My big event for the day came in the form of a predator-prey interaction. COOLEST THING EVER. I was tagging Monarchs and went for a swoop with the net, but the Monarch didn’t move. And I didn’t capture it in my net. Huh. It was still on the bush. Not moving. How bizarre. Upon closer examination, that Monarch was behaving very oddly. The wings were held very stiffly….OH. Then I saw the Mantis. It was holding the Monarch and munching happily away. It was only eating the thorax (head) of the Monarch. I returned several hours later and the same mantis was still chowing down. Wow. So amazing and so gross, all at the same time.
On this note, it is interesting to discuss the edibleness of the Monarchs. Monarchs are poisonous to birds. As caterpillars, they eat strictly milkweed plants. The milkweed “sap” is milky and contains the heart poison cardiac glycosides. The caterpillars store the cardiac glycosides in their bodies and the butterflies emerge with the same toxins. These cardiac glycosides render the Monarchs inedible to birds. Immature birds will taste the Monarchs but quickly learn that they are bitter and have a horrible taste—poisonous. Monarchs are not poisonous to insects, however, so the Mantis was free to eat without the nasty side effects that birds experience from trying to consume Monarchs. Monarch coloration, the combination of the black and orange, is a warning sign to other creatures that they are poisonous and do not eat!
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