Monarch Rearing: Concerns and Beneficial Alternatives
Learn why raising monarchs in captivity could do more harm than good and discover fun and beneficial conservation alternatives!
CREDIT: DAWN MARIE STACCIA
Many people are concerned about the monarch butterfly’s decline in the last few decades and wonder how they can help this iconic insect species. Often, well-meaning people collect or purchase monarch butterfly eggs, caterpillars, or chrysalises to rear and release to bolster monarch populations. This practice does not have the intended impact and could actually harm the monarch populations. Read up on our recommendations around monarch rearing and handling and discover alternative ways to effectively contribute to the conservation of the monarch butterfly!
Does Raising Monarchs Help Them?
Unfortunately, rearing monarch butterflies away from their natural environment (or in captivity), whether from eggs, caterpillars, or chrysalises, can have unintended negative consequences on monarch populations.
The implications of captive-rearing were detailed in .
Potential detrimental impacts of rearing monarch butterflies include the following:
Danger of Disease Spread
Due to the lack of specific disease-prevention protocols and the monarchs' susceptibility to diseases, captive-reared monarchs could carry OE and have been shown to spread disease to other monarchs once released.
Food Source Challenges
As voracious eaters of milkweed, it can be logistically difficult to raise monarch caterpillars indoors. Plucking leaves from outdoor milkweed plants can lead to waste as the leaves wilt and need to be replaced frequently. This can lead to needing more milkweed to feed indoor-reared caterpillars than they would have consumed on the plant outdoors. This is not ideal since milkweed is often in short supply for wild monarchs. On top of this, if you can’t keep up with the captive caterpillars’ milkweed demands, they could starve.
More recent research has raised concerns about:
Migration Challenges
Captive-reared monarchs have been shown to struggle to migrate effectively [, ].
Decreased Fitness
There are also concerns that captive-reared monarchs are smaller (less elongated wings) and less fit than their wild counterparts, leading to increased mortality [].
Attempting to raise a wild species in captivity with the intent to release it into the wild is an enormously complex process that is best left to trained biologists, zoologists, and science experts. Untrained members of the public collecting wild animals out of their natural habitat to bring them inside to raise and release is not a viable conservation strategy, even if it makes us feel good.
Instead of Raising Monarchs, Do These Activities to Help Them
While the instinct to rear monarchs comes from a place of love for the species, we need to love the monarchs the way they need to be loved. Luckily, we can support monarch butterflies in many ways that can be just as fun and educational.
Plant a Monarch Garden and Observe Them in the Wild
Planting a monarch garden is a phenomenal way to support monarchs. It is a way to raise them in the wild!
CREDIT: VILMA VALDES
Monarch caterpillars depend on milkweed as their only food source and the butterflies will only lay their eggs on this plant. Planting native milkweed is a great way to attract monarch butterflies to lay their eggs. When planting native milkweed, you should add other native flowering plants nearby to serve as nectar sources for the adult butterflies and reduce the risk of predation. Learn more about creating a monarch-friendly garden here!
Planting a monarch-friendly garden is a perfect educational opportunity for students and families since it provides hands-on experiences. Plus, once these gardens are established and monarch butterflies (and other wildlife) are visiting them, the gardens can be an incredible place to see monarchs in the wild, make observations, lead lessons, and collect data.
There are many ways to use these gardens to observe the monarch life cycle, including:
- Plant the garden with your students and care for it together.
- Use cameras and magnifying glasses to look carefully for monarch eggs, caterpillars, and butterflies. Turn this into a counting activity!
- Read a monarch-themed book in the garden with your students.
- Bring out drawing materials and draw the monarchs you see in their different life stages.
- Create an eye-spy game or bingo card with things students can observe in the garden.
- Turn the garden into a science lab and collect data on the number of butterflies visiting each type of flowering plant.
- In the fall or winter, collect seeds from the milkweed seed pods.
You can also access more classroom resources here:
NWF Monarch Mission curriculum
NWF Schoolyard Habitats Planning Guide
NWF EcoSchools U.S.
In Captivity vs. In the Garden
The only difference for us as the observers between observing monarchs inside and outside is that you do not have control over their exact location or other natural occurrences like predation. But even these variations can lead to great home and classroom discussions about animal behavior and food webs! Witnessing predation may feel sad, but know that it means you have created a garden that is now supporting a wide variety of wildlife and healthy food webs!
Become a Community Scientist to Have Hands-On Monarch Interactions
For adults and older children, there are great ways to interact with live monarchs through community science experiences. Getting involved with a reputable monarch tagging program or participating in other community science operations are great ways to do this! Some reputable projects include the fall migration tagging program led by and documenting observations using . You can also reach out to us at the National Wildlife Federation to learn about more ongoing community science opportunities in your area! Many local nature centers, parks, and naturalists will also be able to point you to reputable programs and community science opportunities.
