The Bedtime Scientist

A question

How do monarch butterflies know where to go?

A calm, true answer. Then, if the wondering keeps going, the whole episode.

The short answer

Nobody fully knows, which is the remarkable part. Monarchs use the sun as a compass, corrected for the time of day by an internal clock, and probably sense the Earth's magnetic field as well.

What makes it strange is that the butterflies flying south have never been there before. The ones that arrive back north are the great-grandchildren of the ones that set out. No single butterfly ever sees the whole journey, and none of them is following anyone who has.

Go deeper tonight

Monarch Butterfly Migration: The Living Relay

The full episode, in one calm voice, with nothing that startles.

The episode

Monarch Butterfly Migration: The Living Relay

0:00 9:32
Sleep timer

Read the guide for this one in the morning.

This connects to

Finding the way Deep time

One idea turns up in many different nights. Follow one and the library starts to join up.