Youth Naturalist Program

The Museum is starting a new summer program this year for middle school students. The activities in each camp will be outdoors, including hands-on nature studies, trips to local natural parks, and fun outdoor adventures.  Please view the online calendar of events for more information on summer camps being offered.  More adventures to come this fall and throughout next year! 

Fun Natural Places to Explore in our area:

• Martinsville City Parks (Frank Wilson Park is directly behind the Museum!)
• Henry County Parks
• Fairystone State Park
• The Blue Ridge Parkway
• DeHart Botanical Gardens

Games:

• Do you know how to protect watersheds?  Play the Watershed Game!
• The Captain Planet Foundation Kidzone
• Journey to a Black Hole
• The Dirt on Soil 

Other Links of Interest:

• The Young Naturalist Awards
• Backyard Conservation 
• Virginia State Park’s Youth Conservation Corps

Monarchs are on the move!

The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus ) spends the winter on one of 12 mountains in Central Mexico.

In March, they begin their race north, giving them only a few weeks to travel hundreds of miles and lay their eggs before they die. They usually make it to Virginia sometime from March through May.

Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed plants. The larva caterpillars feed on the milkweed, which contains toxins. This toxin causes them to be poisonous to many avian predators. Animals that are poisonous often have some trait to warn potential predators- telling them “Don’t eat me, or you’ll get sick!” This is one reason why the Monarch is bright orange.

There is another species that takes advantage of this phenomenon. The North American Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) looks very much like a monarch, and has been called a mimic species. A mimic species shares a trait with a poisonous species which helps protect them, because a predator may mistake a non-poisonous species for a poisonous one. Some recent studies question whether the Viceroy is a true mimic, however their similarity is indisputable.

See if you can tell the difference between a monarch and a viceroy!

Photos: Bruce Marlin  copyright:  http://www.cirrusimage.com Be on the lookout for Monarchs migrating through our area. You can find Monarch eggs and larva on Milkweed plants, often on the undersides of the leaves.

For more information on Monarch butterflies:

• Journey North
• Monarch Watch
• Monarch Viceroy Puzzle
• Kidzone