Well, since I did a Milkweed Caterpillar model, it makes sense that after going through its chrysalis state, it would eventually become a Monarch Butterfly. It's hard to believe I haven't done butterflies yet since my Nature's Wonders brand took off with "Giant Moths" in 2015. I guess I'll blame it on my Nature's Wonders method of project selection. It always been about food... My Nightjar and Goatsucker bird models fed on predominantly moths, hence the moth models. My Roadrunner loved lizards, hence those models. My herons wanted frogs, and frogs wanted ants. My bee-eaters feed on... you guessed it, bees. Cicadas were doing their 14-year anniversary and most of my bird eat those too. My spiders came about because I wanted a tarantula for my Tarantula Hawk (Bees of the World v2). Cuckoos love caterpillars and caterpillars turn to moths and... you guessed it, butterflies. In this image, I have the Monarch checking out (appropriately) some Royal Penstemon (from my Hummingbird Garden plant set), as they do in real life, in my garden. There is a Western Tiger Swallowtail in the background. The Monarch, Tiger Swallowtails and Viceroy are all in the base set. The monarch butterfly or simply “Monarch” is a milkweed butterfly is probably the most recognizable butterfly in the world. The name "monarch" is believed to have been given in honor of King William III of England, as the butterfly's main color is that of the king's secondary title, Prince of Orange. Its wings feature an easily recognizable black, orange, and white pattern, with a wingspan of 3.5–4.0 inches (8.9–10.2 cm). It is found in North and South America, Western Europe and Asia/Oceania. The eastern North American monarch population is notable for its annual southward late-summer/autumn instinctive migration from the northern and central United States and southern Canada to Florida and Mexico. During the fall migration, monarchs cover thousands of miles, with a corresponding multi-generational return north in spring. The western North American population of monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains often migrates to sites in southern California, but individuals have been found in overwintering Mexican sites, as well. In 2009, monarchs were reared on the International Space Station, successfully emerging from pupae located in the station's Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus. In February 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported a study that showed that nearly a billion monarchs had vanished from the butterfly's overwintering sites since 1990. The agency attributed the monarch's decline in part to a loss of milkweed caused by herbicides that farmers and homeowners had used. Western monarch populations have rebounded slightly since 2014 with the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count tallying 335,479 monarchs in 2022. The population still has much to go for a full recovery. On July 20, 2022, the International Union for Conservation of Nature added the migratory monarch butterfly (the subspecies common in North America) to its red list of endangered species. It is still under consideration for endangered species status. There are three main types of monarch butterfly; the Monarch, the Southern Monarch and the Jamaican Monarch. Also within the Monarch family, there are many subspecies and color variations.