White Supremacist Patriarchy Butt-Hurt by 2600-Mile Butterfly Migration

These women are worldwide, but a new study shows their migratory journey is even more extreme than we thought.

Nature Communications published a study in June revealing that Vanessa cardui, aka Painted Lady butterflies, are even more formidable than we knew. These gorgeous insects, found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica, migrate an astonishing 2,610 miles (4,200 kilometers) across the Atlantic from West Africa to French Guiana, with a possible total journey of up to 4,345 miles (7,000 kilometers).

"The overall journey, which was energetically feasible only if assisted by winds, is among the longest documented for individual insects, and potentially the first verified transatlantic crossing."

We already knew these ladies were strong migrators, but this study tracked their extraordinary adventures with the help of beach landings in French Guiana, where researchers captured exhausted butterflies with damaged wings. By reconstructing wind trajectories, they proved the Painted Ladies' incredible oceanic travels.

Painted Ladies are well-traveled and migratory, similar to Monarch butterflies. They're found in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and Central America, and their migration spans multiple generations. In North America, they migrate northwest in spring and sometimes back southward in autumn, even reaching Canada and Mexico.

Their caterpillar children are hungry, so make sure your garden has plenty of thistles, legume plants like alfalfa and clover, and flowers from the Asteraceae and Malvaceae families. Avoid herbicides and insecticides to keep these families safe!

Learn more about these amazing women:

• University of Colorado Boulder's Museum of Natural History
• Wisconsin Horticulture
• Gardenia
• Insect Lore

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