The monarchs at JLBG, are busy consummating their final hookups of the year, before heading south, presumably before authorities come looking for them. Monarch butterflies are usually only 3-8 days old when they start having sex. Even in Appalachia, where a lot of unusual sexual behaviors are normalized, that just ain’t right. At that young age, things don’t happen quickly, so intercourse can take up to 16 hours. Mom gets no rest, due the short gestation period, so she goes into labor soon after sex. If that wasn’t enough, the young don’t even get time to play and grow up as kids, as they have to almost immediately hop on a gust of wind, and head south to Mexico for a giant family reunion. Due to butterfly immigration rules, they are required to hang around in trees, with a bunch of relatives they don’t even know, and may not even like, for up to three months, before they can be allowed back into the US. And you thought you wanted to live a butterfly’s life.
