ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
INTRODUCTION
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Canadian Geese flying south for the winter.
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A gazelle running from a cheetah.
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Avoiding Monarch butterflies due to their bad taste.
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Your pupils getting larger in a dimly lit room.
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Detailed explanation-1: -The monarch stores a poison called cardenolides or cardiac glycosides that it gets from the plant it eats.
Detailed explanation-2: -The monarch and viceroy butterfly are poisonous in nature. The bright red and black colour on them indicates their poisonous nature to predators. This kind of mimicry is called as Mullerian Mimicry. In Mullerian Mimicry, the organisms that mimic each other are dangerous and sometimes venomous.
Detailed explanation-3: -The monarch butterfly is highly distasteful to its predator (bird) because of a special chemical present in its body. Interestingly the butterfly acquires this chemical during its caterpillar stage by feeding on a poisonous weed.
Detailed explanation-4: -The monarch has 2 defence mechanisms The monarch (Danaus plexippus) uses two methods of self-defence – warning colouration and toxicity. The monarch butterfly’s bright colours are warning signs for vertebrates to stay away. Scientists call this aposematic colouration.