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Animal Themes
Insects
Invertebrates
 Monarch Butterflies

Monarch Butterflies
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 9
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   10.08

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    exclusive, venomous, contrast, encounter, hence, possibly, species, poisonous, thus, defense, hatching, adult, journey, rush, brilliant, however
     content words:    United States

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     Spanish: Las Mariposas Monarcas

Monarch Butterflies   
1     Monarch butterflies are possibly the insects with the greatest endurance on Earth! Although they are too fragile to carry anything, they manage to accomplish one thing that only bigger and stronger animals (such as salmons and Arctic terns) can do - migration!
 
2     During the winter months, we often find monarch butterflies around the regions of the southern United States and central Mexico. When spring comes, monarch butterflies head north and can reach as far north as southern Canada. However, as the weather starts to cool down in autumn, monarch butterflies are ready to fly back to their summer residence. Along their migratory routes, monarch butterflies look for a plant called milkweed. Why is this plant so important to monarch butterflies? Well, that is because the larvae or caterpillars of monarch butterflies eat nothing but milkweed leaves. This exclusive diet earns monarch butterflies a nickname - milkweed butterflies - and makes them fearsome to other animals.
 
3     Fearsome? Yes, monarch butterflies give other animals chills because they are poisonous! Although monarch caterpillars or butterflies are not venomous enough to kill their predators, they make their enemies sick with upset stomachs! Since hatching, monarch caterpillars dine on poisonous milkweed leaves. The toxin stays inside their bodies even after monarch caterpillars grow up and become monarch butterflies. Because of this natural defense, monarch caterpillars and monarch butterflies are in no rush to seek shelters when they encounter a hungry lizard or a starving bird.

Paragraphs 4 to 5:
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