Sunday, May 11, 2014

Cuckoo Food


The eastern tent caterpillar (Malacosoma americanum) works in massive family groups of up to 300 siblings to form thier large protective silken tents. 
The caterpillars are the larval stage of a snout moth which is strickly nocturnal. The adult moths lay their egg masses on Prunus trees. The newly hatched larvae work together to construct their tent. They emerge from their silk barrier three times a day to feed on the cyanide rich Prunus leaves. The cyanide is imparted to the caterpillars making them unpalatable to nearly all would be predators. However, cuckoos are know to slurp down the hairy cyanide ridden larvae. This sparks my curiosity as to how the cuckoos are able to metabolize  the enzyme inhibitor while most other can't. 


On another note, a prairie warbler was seen twirling up a nice portion of the tent around its bill, presumably to use for nest building. 

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