Stimulus-dependent orientation strategies in monarch butterflies
Franzke M, Kraus C, Gayler M and others. The Journal of experimental biology, February 2022.
Read the paper Free to read · doi:10.1242/jeb.243687
What this paper is about
Monarchs hold a southward course using a time-compensated sun compass. This study varied what they could see and found the strategy they use depends on the stimulus.
With some cues they hold a fixed compass bearing; with others they orient relative to the object itself.
Summarised here from the abstract below. Not the authors’ words.
Abstract
Insects are well known for their ability to keep track of their heading direction based on a combination of skylight cues and visual landmarks. This allows them to navigate back to their nest, disperse throughout unfamiliar environments, as well as migrate over large distances between their breeding and non-breeding habitats. The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), for instance, is known for its annual southward migration from North America to certain trees in Central Mexico. To maintain a constant flight route, these butterflies use a time-compensated sun compass, which is processed in a region in the brain, termed the central complex. However, to successfully complete their journey, the butterflies' brain must generate a multitude of orientation strategies, allowing them to dynamically switch from sun-compass orientation to a tactic behavior toward a certain target. To study whether monarch butterflies exhibit different orientation modes and if they can switch between them, we observed the orientation behavior of tethered flying butterflies in a flight simulator while presenting different visual cues to them. We found that the butterflies' behavior depended on the presented visual stimulus. Thus, while a dark stripe was used for flight stabilization, a bright stripe was fixated by the butterflies in their frontal visual field. If we replaced a bright stripe with a simulated sun stimulus, the butterflies switched their behavior and exhibited compass orientation. Taken together, our data show that monarch butterflies rely on and switch between different orientation modes, allowing the animal to adjust orientation to its actual behavioral demands.
Abstract reproduced from the published paper, which is licensed CC BY. Copyright remains with the authors.
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title = {Stimulus-dependent orientation strategies in monarch butterflies (listing)},
author = {{Milkweed USA}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://milkweedusa.com/research/stimulus-dependent-orientation-strategies-in-monarch-butterflies-2022/},
note = {Accessed DATE}
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