Why do predators avoid eating Monarch butterfly? How does the butterfly develop this protective feature?
Answers
The Monarch butterfly have a unique feature that helps them keep predators at bay... they possess CARDIAC GLYCOSIDES that are chemicals when ingested beyond certain amounts harm the animal... these toxins get accumlated in the bodies of the butterflies when they feed over the leaves of MILKWEED plant during the larval stage....
Hope it helps :)
Development of protective features by Butterfly:
The predators avoid eating Monarch butterfly because the species secrete a substances called cardiac glycosides, which has fatal effect upon the enzyme related to the functioning of sodium and potassium salt metabolism in predators body.
When the butterfly is in larval stage to obtain nutrients it consumes milkweed leaves as its food and this leads to the development of protective cover which is used by the monarch butterfly to escape from its predators.