The painted lady butterfly is unable to survive our winter; this is true for any of its developmental stages. Thus, Vanessa cardui overwinters in Africa, partly in the Tropics south of the Sahara desert.
Each year, the butterflies make a huge, multi-generational, mass migration. The round trip is about 15’000 km long. In the spring, the painted ladies move northward through the Mediterranean to much of the European continent. They migrate back in the fall and use for this purpose favorable high altitude winds to move rapidly across the continents.
Millions of butterflies partake in these migrations, though the numbers fluctuate every year. The migration allows these butterfly populations to take advantage of the changes in resources as the seasons change, moving north in the summer to avoid the hot temperatures in Africa, and moving south again to avoid the cold winters of northern Europe.
JoFer
27 May 2021Ein Juwel! – adäquat dargestellt.
admin
27 May 2021Das hört jeder Fotograf gern. Danke, JoFer!