The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies

NARRATOR: It's one of the most profound mysteries in the natural world, an amazing transcontinental odyssey: the migration, each year, of millions of Monarch butterflies from Canada, across America, to Mexico.
CHIP TAYLOR (University of Kansas): You got a butterfly that's originating in Toronto, or it's originating in Detroit, Michigan, or it's coming down from St. Paul, maybe even Winnipeg, and it's moving south, and, somehow, it finds its way to Mexico. Could you do that?

NARRATOR: Starting from a tiny caterpillar, blossoming into a beautiful butterfly, these delicate creatures will fly thousands of miles in a feat of endurance and navigation unlike anything else in nature.

LINCOLN BROWER (Sweet Briar College): They've never taken a long flight in their lives, and they're on their way to an area that they've never seen before. Somehow they're recognizing landmarks, or following streams or following the Sun. They're following something.

NARRATOR: They're on their way to a remote area, high in the Mexican mountains. And they get there every year at exactly the same time.

BILL CALVERT (Zoologist): Butterflies have dazzled humans for millennia. It's a beautiful little creature, and on top of that, it migrates 2,000 miles, and this just staggers the mind.

LINCOLN BROWER: I think the Monarch butterfly is one of the most magnificent animals in the world. And it's unique in terms of the entire animal kingdom. There's nothing like it.

NARRATOR: Next on NOVA, The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies. PBS Airdate: January 27, 2009