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Yuchy is lucky
This is a photo of the sap of the milkweed plant.
I broke off a leaf and it ran out of the stem. It made a few drops
then stopped.
This white
sap that contains a mild poison. The poison is called a glycoside - cardenolides.
This poisonous
sap helps the monarchs. By eating these plants, the caterpillars
have this poison. It does not harm them.
Monarch butterflies also have this poison. The
poison does not bother them, either. But it makes them "yucky"
to predators. Very clever don't you think?
Both the butterfly and the caterpillar have it.
Predators, like birds and small mammals, pass by the monarch butterfly because
they taste so bad!
Be
sure to check this out new info - Viceroy Butterflies share
Mullerian
mimicry with the Monarch Butterfly!
 Next page
Milkweed & Monarch Butterfly Mania main page
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