Sunday, October 22, 2006

Monarch butterfly


The monarch butterfly is sometimes called the "milkweed butterfly" because its larvae eat the plant. In fact, milkweed is the only thing the larvae can eat! If you'd like to attract monarchs to your garden, you can try planting milkweed (if you live in the right area).

Most predators have learned that the monarch butterfly makes a poisonous snack. The toxins from the monarch's milkweed diet have given the butterfly this defense. In either the caterpillar or butterfly stage the monarch needs no camouflage because it takes in toxins from the milkweed and is poisonous to predators.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[kidzone.com]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There is another butterfly (I can't remember it's name) that looks like the monarch butterfly and that is this butterfly's defense. It's predators will see it and assume it is the poisonous monarch and leave it alone.