Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed leaves. This video is one of 89 videos that are part of an interactive multimedia software for grades K-5 entitled Backyard Bugs.
website:http://www.totallybuggin.com
Duration : 0:0:56
[youtube cll2vGF04XI]
Tags: caterpillar, cycle, history, life, milkweed, monarch, natural
Your other question …
Your other question: The toxin never runs out in the caterpillar because it keeps eating. I don’t know about the butterflies, because they are nectar feeders from all sorts of flowers. I don’t know whether anyone has done the experiment.
Professor Brower …
Professor Brower experimentally selected those caterpillars that were able to grow on cabbage and bred them over several generations. These caterpillars had no toxin. This is evidence to prove that the toxin in the ones not grown artifically on cabbage came from the ingested milkweed. In other words the caterpillars do not produce the toxin, they sequester it from their diet. In nature monarch caterpillars ONLY eat milkweed leaves. That is true.
now im confused–b/ …
now im confused–b/c in the other video a researcher had the caterpillar eat cabbage, but this video states caterpillars eat only milkweed. Can you please explain?
Also, can a monarch’s repository of milkweed “venom” run out?
thanks!