Big monarch caterpillars don’t avoid toxic milkweed goo. They binge on it

ScienceNews recently published a fascinating article by Susan Milius about milkweed sap and its effect on larvae. "Monarch caterpillars (Danaus plexippus) hatch and feed on milkweeds, which fight back when bitten and ooze milky toxin-rich latex. Monarchs evolved their own counter-chemistry for surviving the toxins. Yet that plant latex can still kill by sheer gooeyness, explains ecologist Georg Petschenka of University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. Very tiny, recently hatched caterpillars can get fatally stuck with mouthparts clogged."

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