Certain animals co-opt environmental toxins for defense
the verdict
SUPPORTED
the evidence backs this
confidence 85/100
Multiple studies confirm that various animal species consume, sequester, and co-opt environmental or dietary toxins for their own defense against predators.
Evidence for · 6
Convergent evolution of toxin resistance in animals.
2022 · cited by 44
Discusses how poisonous animals feed on toxic prey and accumulate or utilize toxins for self-protection.
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More for · 5
Plant insecticidal toxins in ecological networks.
2012 · cited by 43
Notes that aposematic insects sequester plant toxins to defend themselves against predators.
Passive accumulation of alkaloids in inconspicuously colored frogs refines the evolutionary paradigm of acquired chemical defenses.
2024 · cited by 5
Explains how poison frogs acquire and sequester alkaloids from their diet for chemical defense.
Cardenolides in the defensive fluid of adult large milkweed bugs have differential potency on vertebrate and invertebrate predator Na<sup>+</sup>/K<sup>+</sup>-ATPases.
2024 · cited by 3
Examines how milkweed bugs sequester and deploy defensive cardenolides derived from their diet.
Exotic predators can sequester and use novel toxins from exotic non-coevolved prey.
2024 · cited by 2
Demonstrates that non-coevolved predators can sequester and use novel chemical defenses from their prey.
Sexual differences in defensive strategies: investigating chemical defences and visual signals in a wasp moth <i>Amata nigriceps</i>.
2025 · cited by 2
Reports that wasp moths sequester steroidal alkaloids and alkylbenzenes for chemical defense.