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Post by theshee on Oct 22, 2010 6:49:34 GMT 10
Monarch butterflies use medicinal plants to treat diseases in their offspring
The journal Ecology Letters just published findings by Emory biologists that monarch butterflies use medication to cure themselves and their offspring of disease.
So what’s in a monarch’s medicine kit? Milkweed – but only a particular species. Experiments show that egg-laying monarchs that are infected with a parasite choose plants that have a medicinal benefit for their caterpillars.
“We believe that our experiments provide the best evidence to date that animals use medication,” says evolutionary biologist Jaap de Roode, who led the research.esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2010/10/monarch-butterflys-medicine-kit.html
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Post by Wes on Oct 22, 2010 14:56:55 GMT 10
Nature is amazing. Who would think that we could learn anything from a Butterfly.
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