It tastes terrible
Its caterpillars eat milkweed and store the plant's poisons. A bird that tries one is sick, and does not try again.
The savanna · Butterflies and moths
African monarch
Danaus chrysippus
An orange butterfly with black wing tips crossed by a band of white spots.
- Size
- Wingspan 7 to 8cm
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Open country, gardens and roadsides all over Africa, and across southern Asia
Flutters after you, slow and unafraid. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
African monarch
Good to know
Six things about the african monarch
No need to hurry
Because birds leave it alone it flies slowly and in the open.
The most copied butterfly
Several harmless butterflies have evolved to look just like it, and are left alone as well.
Painted 3,500 years ago
A butterfly in an ancient Egyptian tomb painting is thought to be this one: perhaps the oldest picture of a butterfly.
Plain tiger
In Asia the same butterfly is called the plain tiger.
It plays dead
If caught it goes limp and oozes a foul-smelling liquid.
The real thing
Photos of the african monarch
.jpg){kind=link}
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Look along sunny roadsides and in gardens, wherever milkweed grows. It glides low and slowly, and lets you get close.
How to help
Milkweed plants are all it needs. It is one of the commonest butterflies in Africa.
Keep going