MITC Home

Insect Fair Teacher Resources Newsletters Background Monarch Quiz Current Year Info Login Register Past Abstracts Past Participating Schools Past Sample Projects Past Fair Pictures The Battle of the Sexes Do You Hear What I Hear? The Effect of Temperature on a Developing Chrysalis A Monarch's Memory Monarch's Taste Caterpillars Pupating and Emerging in Heat and Cold Does Temperature Affect Pupae? How Does Climate Affect the Emerging Rate of a Pupae? How Does Temperature Affect the Butterfly After Emerging? How Does the Moisture Level of Milkweed Affect the Growth of Caterpillars? Are the Females' Wings Larger than the Males' Wings? Are There More Male Monarchs or Female Monarchs? Are There More Male or Female Monarchs? Do Monarchs Eat Any Other Food than Milkweed? How Many Male and Female Butterflies Came Out of Their Chrysalis Each Day? What Do Monarchs Prefer to Eat? Whose Wings are Bigger, Males or Females? Survival Rate of Monarch Caterpillars Raised in the Dark vs in the Light Will Monarch Caterpillars Eat More in the Light Than Those in the Dark? Do Monarch Larvae Prefer Young or Mature Milkweed Leaves? Does Heat or Light Affect the Direction of the Pre-Pupal "J"? Does the Size of the Container Affect the Larva Size or Adult Size? The Effects of Different Species of Milkweed on Monarch Development The Effects of Magnets on Monarch Development If There is No Milkweed, Where do Monarchs Lay Their Eggs? Courses and Workshops Support Materials Lesson Plans Research with Students Community Learning Garden Writing a Scientific Paper Research Topic Ideas The Scientific Method Sign Up Credits History Objectives Terms of Use Easy Medium Hard

Home | MITC | MonarchLab | MLMP | SEE | Monarch Store | Links | About Us | Contact Us

What Foods Do Monarchs Prefer?

Megan
Grade 6
Plymouth Middle School
Robbinsdale School District 281
Plymouth, MN

Abstract

I tested to see which food the adult monarchs liked the best. I conducted my experiment by putting food in the cage with the monarchs and measuring how long they had their proboscis down on the food. I was very interested to learn more about what they eat. I was very surprised to find out that the monarchs liked Kool-Aid the best. They also liked apples, oranges, bananas, flowers, and sugar water. If I do this again, I would like to have more time to observe the monarchs. I learned that monarchs eat a variety of things and that they will eat almost anything, or at least try it. I found out that monarchs like food with lots of sugar best.

Purpose

I wanted to find out what foods the adult monarch prefers to eat.

Hypothesis

I think the monarchs will like the foods that are juicy and have lots of sugar in them.

Procedure

First, I cut up the foods and put them on a dish in the cage with the butterflies. I put liquids in a dish with a cotton ball. Then I watched to see if the monarchs put their proboscises down. When they did, I timed how long they ate. If they ate more than 30 seconds, I assumed they liked the food.

Materials

1. monarch butterflies
2. foods
   apple, banana, carrot, apple juice, Kool-Aid, milk, cranberries, berries, flowers, kiwi, sugar water, lemon juice, pickle juice, juicy juice, hummingbird food, watermelon, grapes, grape jelly, plum, pineapple, and oranges
3. cage
4. timer
5. data chart

Results

I found that the monarchs preferred the Kool-Aid. They also liked oranges, sugar water, apples, bananas, and watermelon.

Conclusion

I found out that my hypothesis was correct. The butterflies liked the sugary foods like Kool-Aid. They also really liked the fruits and flowers. The butterflies seemed to eat many different things and they tried most of it.

What I Would Do Differently

I got lots of my data from observations made by other people. Some people may not have been as accurate in their timing as I was. I found that the monarchs didn't always eat when I wanted them to. We had less monarchs to observe eating at the beginning and more toward the end (the weather was cold so we kept them in our cage longer). The number of monarchs might have had an influence on the results. Also, we did not give them the same foods at the end (we ran out of some) and a larger number of butterflies had a chance to eat some foods.

Observations

I found that when the butterflies first emerged, they didn't eat much. After we had them for a day or two, they were more interested in eating.

Insect Fair Projects | Research Topics | MITC Home

MITC Home | Insect Fair | Teacher Resources | Newsletters | Background