Don’t attempt to say these words fast 10 times if you’ve had more than one adult beverage: “Danaus plexippus.”

That’s the scientific name for the monarch butterfly, a welcome dash of color and grace that makes Michigan’s summer-to-fall season special.

Easily one of the most beautifully marked and recognizable butterflies to grace the blooms of our gardens and landscapes, these long-distance travelers arrive each spring in the United States from far southern areas. However, those that first land in the southern areas of the country are not the same ones that come to our state.

The miracle of their return begins at this point, for the Monarchs that return in spring to Michigan are not the ones that left in the fall.

Scientists do not know for certain how the last generation of returning butterflies are able to navigate their way back, since the ones that migrated south are not leading those returning. How they find their way to Michigan remains a mystery.

Theories abound: They sense electromagnetic fields, are guided by moon and stars, or follow scents on aerial currents. No one knows for certain. But they show up each year, and that is the miracle.

Once here, the arriving generation gets down to the business of producing more of its kind. Monarch eggs are deposited on the underside of milkweed leaves, where they hatch. Depending on temperature, this takes three to 12 days.

The Monarch has few natural predators. This gaudy-hued and easily seen butterfly needs no camouflage because it takes in toxins from the milkweed that make it poisonous to predators.

The larvae feed for about two weeks on the plant leaves, developing into fat caterpillars about 5 centimeters long. Then they attach themselves head-down to a convenient twig, and shed the outer skin as they begin transforming into a pupa, or chrysalis. This process is finished in a few hours.

The pupas are a waxy, jade color. Inside, the caterpillar completes the miraculous process of rebirth into a beautiful adult butterfly in about two weeks. Emerging from the transparent case, the butterfly waits until the wings dry, then it flies away to continue the propagation of the species.

All summer, new generations of Monarchs are hatched until the final “Methuselah generation.” As autumn approaches in their sites of migratory origin, this very special generation of monarchs is born. Unlike their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents —all of whom had short lives measured only in weeks—these migratory butterflies survive seven or eight months. In human terms, given our average life span of 75 years, this would be like having children who lived to be 525 years old!

This final, Michigan-born generation performs the incredible feat of flying from here to the center of Mexico to overwinter, after which they begin the northward journey again. Once they reach the southern United States, a kind of relay race begins: their short-lived offspring, with only four or five weeks to live, continues making the trek northward over several leap-frogging generations.

In 1937, a researcher named F. A. Urquhart began putting wing tags on southward bound butterflies. This allowed him to track some of the colorful travelers. In the 1950s, he formed the Insect Migration Association, a project enlisting more than 3,000 volunteers across the country. For more than 20 years, the volunteers helped track the marked insects, contacting Urquhart whenever they found or saw a marked Monarch.

The results of this tracking proved astonishing. One butterfly, tagged on Sept. 18, 1957, in Highland Creek, Ontario, was tracked along a 1,870-mile route where it was spotted again in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, four months later.

Each year, thousands of people continue tagging monarchs in an effort to study their migration.

In 1997, the research organization Monarch Watch helped volunteers place small sticky wing tags on more than 75,000 butterflies. And in 1998, it distributed more than 200,000 tags to people interested in helping out with the annual tracking project. While the group isn’t sure how many of the 1998 tags actually made it onto butterfly wings, at least 35 marked Monarchs were spotted at their wintering grounds in Mexico. One had logged 1,844 miles southwest from where it was tagged in Campbell, MN, to its roosting spot in El Rosario, Mexico.

Now is the time for a final view of these brilliant travelers before their long journey south begins. Enjoy the sight while you can. It’ll be a long cold wait until these miraculous migrators come our way again.