how do animals know which plants are dangerous and not to eat them?
In: Biology
Their parents’ can help teach to some extent in early life, but a lot is that animals who did eat the plants that might kill them didn’t survive to produce offspring. It then becomes somewhat instinctual and they can sense it is dangerous. Think about things that taste gross for example, that’s an evolutionary trait we have to help protect us from eating things that might kill us. It won’t prevent everything, for example the Death Cap mushroom is at least rumored to taste good despite being one of the most toxic mushrooms that exists, and some animals eat things that are toxic and kill them.
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