Chemical defence mechanism exists in the animal world Jan 16
2013 But the use of chemical defence for survival in nature has
been prevalent since evolution. Plants and animals have used it
since evolution and benefited. Most chemical defence mechanisms
fall between two extremes, that of lethal toxins or distasteful
compounds that would shun the predator away. These compounds are
either endogenous, which are produced by the organism such as
the venom in snakes and scorpions or exogenous products of other
organism such as the monarch butterflies, that protect
themselves from their predators using milkweeds. During the
1960s, researchers discovered that cardenolides are chemicals in
milkweed that made monarchs toxic and bitter tasting. Since many
adult monarchs do not eat milkweed, it shows that they had
stored the repulsive chemicals that they ingested as larvae and
proved to give the protection during its butterfly stage. There
are many other known species that protect themselves with
chemical defence. These a