The monarch butterfly is the state insect of Texas. Monarchs are orange with black lines and small white spots.

Every fall, millions of monarchs fly south across Texas. They are on their way to the mountains of Mexico, where they spend the winter. In spring, monarchs fly north again. Many of them stop to lay eggs in Texas on the way.

A mother monarch lays her eggs only on milkweed plants. Milkweed is the only food that monarch caterpillars eat. When a caterpillar has eaten enough, it makes a chrysalis. About two weeks later, a new butterfly comes out.

In some places, there is less milkweed than there used to be. People can help monarchs by planting milkweed in gardens and at schools.