Poisonous Prey
Poisonous Prey
A poisonous animal has poison in its body. It does not typically have a special body part, such as a sting, for injecting the poison. instead, a predator comes in contact with the poison when it seizes or eats the poisonous animal. Sometimes a predator learns its mistake whileeating its prey—or even after it has swallowed it.
A bird that grabs the poisonous monarch butterfly will get a taste of the poison. This is often enough to make the bird drop the monarch. The bird learns that a monarch is an unpleasant meal, and the monarch escapes.
If the bird swallows the monarch, it regrets it. The monarch’s poison does not kill the bird, but it does make the bird feel sick and throw up. Most birds remember this lesson for a long time and do not attempt to catch monarchs again. Scientists have found that the mere sight of a monarch can cause these “educated” birds to gag and retch, as if they were about to be sick.
Many poisonous animals produce foul fluids that cling to the predator or entrap it. The pill millipede, for example, oozes sticky droplets when it is attacked. The droplets stick to predators such as ants. As the ants frantically try to clean off the fluid, they gum themselves up even more. Meanwhile, the millipede escapes. A spider that eats a pill millipede will be paralyzed for several days. The poison even can affect birds and mice.
Some animals’ poison can kill predators. A few species of millipedes, for example, ooze droplets that release a poisonous gas called hydrogen cyanide. Shutting one of these millipedes in a jar with other small living things will cause the animals to die from the fumes. The poison gas made by just one millipede can kill more than six mice. Toads that seize such a millipede quickly spit it out. Some beetlelarvae, centipedes, moths, and caterpillars also make hydrogen cyanide.
Poison dart frogs (also called poison arrow frogs), which live in Central and South America, excrete a poisonous, foul-tasting fluid from their skin when threatened. Some of these tiny frogs, which are small enough to perch on a quarter, produce poison strong enough to kill predators. in fact, they received their name from the fact that natives sometimes carefully extract the frogs’ poison and coat the tips, or darts, of their arrows with it to catch and kill other animals. The most toxic is the golden frog. Just one drop of its poison can kill thousands of mice.
Of course, if a poisonous animal had a choice, it would rather not be attacked in the first place. It is better for it to stop an attack before it starts. A poisonous animal does this with warning colors, foul tastes, bad smells, irritating chemicals, and sometimes sounds.
A poisonous animal has poison in its body. It does not typically have a special body part, such as a sting, for injecting the poison. instead, a predator comes in contact with the poison when it seizes or eats the poisonous animal. Sometimes a predator learns its mistake whileeating its prey—or even after it has swallowed it.
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| The colorful, tiny poison dart frog can excrete poison from its skin when threatened. |
A bird that grabs the poisonous monarch butterfly will get a taste of the poison. This is often enough to make the bird drop the monarch. The bird learns that a monarch is an unpleasant meal, and the monarch escapes.
If the bird swallows the monarch, it regrets it. The monarch’s poison does not kill the bird, but it does make the bird feel sick and throw up. Most birds remember this lesson for a long time and do not attempt to catch monarchs again. Scientists have found that the mere sight of a monarch can cause these “educated” birds to gag and retch, as if they were about to be sick.
Many poisonous animals produce foul fluids that cling to the predator or entrap it. The pill millipede, for example, oozes sticky droplets when it is attacked. The droplets stick to predators such as ants. As the ants frantically try to clean off the fluid, they gum themselves up even more. Meanwhile, the millipede escapes. A spider that eats a pill millipede will be paralyzed for several days. The poison even can affect birds and mice.
Some animals’ poison can kill predators. A few species of millipedes, for example, ooze droplets that release a poisonous gas called hydrogen cyanide. Shutting one of these millipedes in a jar with other small living things will cause the animals to die from the fumes. The poison gas made by just one millipede can kill more than six mice. Toads that seize such a millipede quickly spit it out. Some beetlelarvae, centipedes, moths, and caterpillars also make hydrogen cyanide.
Poison dart frogs (also called poison arrow frogs), which live in Central and South America, excrete a poisonous, foul-tasting fluid from their skin when threatened. Some of these tiny frogs, which are small enough to perch on a quarter, produce poison strong enough to kill predators. in fact, they received their name from the fact that natives sometimes carefully extract the frogs’ poison and coat the tips, or darts, of their arrows with it to catch and kill other animals. The most toxic is the golden frog. Just one drop of its poison can kill thousands of mice.
Of course, if a poisonous animal had a choice, it would rather not be attacked in the first place. It is better for it to stop an attack before it starts. A poisonous animal does this with warning colors, foul tastes, bad smells, irritating chemicals, and sometimes sounds.
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