Here is how Mrs. Koch's 5th grade class from Barnesville, Ohio, answered Challenge Question #2.
Hypotheses:
1. The "accidental tourist" -- The butterfly was carried (as
an adult, larva, or pupa) by ship or plane to England. Perhaps it was
carried in cargo or by a careless tourist. Cargo (Maybe wood or a tree)exported
to England could inadvertently include some form of monarch.
2. The butterfly could have been blown off course. The students saw four
possibilities. First, the monarchs could have been carried by winds across
the southern Atlantic -- perhaps across from the Carolinas, Georgia, or
Florida. They might have been carried by winds across the northern Atlantic
via Greenland, Iceland, etc. Global warming might have made this possible
for them. Students hypothesized that climatic change may have caused a
butterfly to fly to England from Spain -- a new adaptation. Some students
thought that the butterfly may have even crossed the Beiring Strait and
Asia to arrive in England (Quite a trip!)
3. There may be a "patch" of milkweed growing in England that
is unknown to scientists. This could have been accidentally imported and
would enable monarch populations to live there.
4. The butterfly may have come from Spain, via a car, through the chunnel.
5. Someone may have had a monarch, either as a pet or an experiment, and
it escaped.
Wouldn't it be fun to have a butterfly fly out or your suitcase? ;-)
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