Sadly for the adult tiger swollowtail it's a tasty meal. Happily the females uses mimicry to protect themselves from
predators by pretending to be the poisonous
pipevine (philenor).
The dark females
are more common in areas where the pipevine is found. |
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The caterpillar of the
Tiger Swallowtail feeds on, amongst other things, the
black cherry despite the poisonous cyanide
the cherry uses to protect itself. |
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