Lovely photographs once again, DR DearReaderLaura!
I heard the most distressing thing today. Is it true that the typical lifespan of a butterfly is only a few days? It doesn't jibe with what I've heard about the migratory patterns of butterflies...
Not exactly. The entire lifespan of many species is a couple of months -- that includes egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult butterfly. So the pretty flying things are, sadly, near the end of their lifespan. I think most of them live a couple of weeks as adults.
The monarch, however, usually has a similar lifespan -- they use their energy procreating. Then at the end of the "season," that generation ceases using energy on procreation and instead uses their energy migrating -- some to Mexico and some to California.
And that is all I know about butterflies.