How do monarch butterflies and their predators eat poisonous milkweed? Scientists now understand how certain animals can feed on picturesque, orange monarch butterflies, which are filled from head to abdomen with milkweed plant toxins. However, monarch butterflies have evolved a set of unusual cellular mutations to be able to eat this plant. “Plant toxins have caused evolutionary changes across at least three levels of the food chain. Milkweed toxins target a part of animal cells called the sodium–potassium pump, which helps enable heartbeats and nerve firing.

Source: The Hindu November 28, 2021 04:47 UTC