Monarch Butterflies
How High Do Monarchs Fly?
Let's Compare!
Do monarchs fly higher than tall trees, skyscrapers, mountain peaks, jet airplanes, and hot air balloons? Use these measurements to make a wall mural — to scale — to show how high monarchs can fly. Include metric units on your mural.
| English Units |
Metric |
Altitudes
of Some Familiar Things |
| 36,000 ft | Passenger
jet Cruising altitude (Can you see the jet?) |
|
| 29,028 ft | Highest
mountain in the world Mt. Everest |
|
| 11,000 ft | Highest
monarch butterfly ever seen Seen during fall migration by glider pilot (may fly higher) |
|
| 10,560 ft | Two
miles high |
|
| 5,280 ft | One
mile high |
|
| 2-4,000 ft | Songbird
migration Most occurs at these altitudes. |
|
| 2,000 ft | Highest
hot air balloon |
|
| 1,483 ft | World's
tallest building Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
|
| 5-600 ft | Monarchs
disappear (viewing with binoculars)
This is an estimate; depends on binocular magnification, conditions. |
|
| 500 ft | Most
birds fly below this level except during migration |
|
| 378.1 ft | Tallest living tree | |
| 2-300 ft | Monarchs
disappear (viewing with naked
eye) (This is an estimate; it depends on conditions, numbers of monarchs, and the viewers) |
|
| 151 ft | Height of the Statue of Liberty |
