Statement I: The Monarch butterfly is highly distasteful to its predator (bird) because of a special chemical present in its body.
Statement II: The Monarch butterfly acquires the special chemical during its caterpillar stage by feeding on a poisonous weed.
In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Both Statement I and Statement II are correct.
Prey species have evolved defences to lessen the impact of predation. Some are cryptically coloured, and some are poisonous and therefore avoided. The Monarch butterfly belongs to the second group.
Statement I: The Monarch butterfly is highly distasteful to its predator (bird) because of a special chemical present in its body. — True. A special chemical in its body makes the butterfly highly distasteful, so birds avoid it.
Statement II: The Monarch butterfly acquires the special chemical during its caterpillar stage by feeding on a poisonous weed. — True. The butterfly does not make the chemical itself. It takes it in as a caterpillar, by feeding on a poisonous weed.
NCERT Extract:
Population Interactions – “… Prey species have evolved various defenses to lessen the impact of predation. Some species of insects and frogs are cryptically-coloured (camouflaged) to avoid being detected easily by the predator. Some are poisonous and therefore avoided by the predators. The Monarch butterfly is highly distasteful to its predator (bird) because of a special chemical present in its body. Interestingly, the butterfly acquires this chemical during its caterpillar stage by feeding on a poisonous weed.”