Study Sheds Light on How Animals Evolve Protective Mechanism Against Butterflies with Poisonous Toxins

Toxic milkweed plants seem to have prompted an evolutionary cascade through various layers in the food web, producing genetic changes in bugs, worms, mice, and birds. Toxic cardiac glycosides generated by milkweeds are not deadly to monarch butterflies because of their unique genetic twist that allows them to eat milkweed.