Animal migration is the travelling of long distances in search of a new habitat. The trigger for the migration may be local climate, local availability of food, or the season of the year. To be counted as a true migration, and not just a local dispersal or irruption, the movement of the animals should be an annual or seasonal occurrence, such as birds migrating south for the winter, or a major habitat change as part of their life cycle, such as young Atlantic salmon leaving the river of their birth when they have reached a few inches in size.^[1]

(From Wikipedia.org, July 11 2010)

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Insect migration is the seasonal movement of insects, particularly those by species of dragonflies, beetles, butterflies and moths. The distance can vary from species to species, but in most cases these movements involve large numbers of individuals. In some cases the individuals that migrate in one direction may not return and the next generation may instead migrate in the opposite direction. This is a significant difference from bird migration. The most famous insect migration is that of the Monarch butterfly which migrates from southern Canada to wintering sites in central Mexico where they spend the winter. In the late winter/early spring, the adult monarchs leave the Transvolcanic mountain range in Mexico for points North. Mating occurs and the females begin seeking out milkweed to lay their eggs, usually first in northern Mexico and southern Texas. The caterpillars hatch and develop into adults that move north, where more offspring can go as far as Central Canada until next migratory cycle.

(From Wikipedia.org, July 11 2010)

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