Butterfly battle (1 Viewer)

Hi Everyone. Today at my mothers house I saw something very strange. I noticed one Monarch butterfly chasing another. It seemed almost like it was a dogfight. The one that was chasing the other caught up to the slower one and slammed into it in mid-flight. It seemed to overpower the weaker one and quickly directed it to the ground. When on the grass it got on top of the other one and it looked like it was fighting with it. The weaker one looked like it was much less vibrant in color. The struggle continued on for at least a minute. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. When the weaker Monarch stopped struggling or moving, the stronger Monarch then picked it up and flew off.
My question. What was this? Was this mating :eat: or was this a battle to the death? :storm: :h?: :h?: :h?:

Here are some photos of the fight. Or the sex. Im so confused. :stuck:

Hello
I would say this is typical 'courtship' behaviour for milkweed butterflies. Courtship is composed of two distinct stages, the aerial phase and the ground phase. During the aerial phase, the male pursues, nudges, and eventually takes down the female. Copulation occurs during the ground phase and involves the transfer of a spermatophore from the male to the female. Along with sperm, the spermatophore is thought to provide the female with energy resources that aid her in carrying out reproduction and remigration.

sphinx said:

Hello
I would say this is typical 'courtship' behaviour for milkweed butterflies. Courtship is composed of two distinct stages, the aerial phase and the ground phase. During the aerial phase, the male pursues, nudges, and eventually takes down the female. Copulation occurs during the ground phase and involves the transfer of a spermatophore from the male to the female. Along with sperm, the spermatophore is thought to provide the female with energy resources that aid her in carrying out reproduction and remigration.

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Hi Sphinx, thanks very much for the info.