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Street and Backyard Neighbors
Street Intro |Image: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

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Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
Hand-colored engraving after John Abbot
From: James Edward Smith, The Natural History of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia…. Vol. 1 of 2 (London, 1797)
NYPL, Rare Books Division





 



The common Monarch Butterfly is depicted on Milkweed, the food plant of the caterpillar. Toxins in the plant’s milky sap are absorbed and make the insect unpalatable to predators. Monarchs can often be seen in local streets during the seasonal migrations to and from their Mexican winter home. These are not round trips, since the migrant butterflies lay eggs en route, then die, and it is the next generation that continues the journey. During the winter of 2001–2002, unusually severe storms killed millions of Monarchs wintering in several Mexican sanctuaries.

The British artist John Abbot (1751–1840) spent many years studying and painting the insects, plants, and birds of the American South. The 104 illustrations for this early natural history are accompanied by descriptions in French and English by Smith, the founder and first president of London’s Linnaean Society.


Check out the sighting log to record your interaction with some of the native New York City wildlife, such as the Monarch Butterfly, featured in Urban Neighbors. You may also browse the sighting log by animal, borough, park or natural area, and/or habitat to view a sighting you have submitted or to read others’ observations.


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