American scientists found that the butterfly butterflies know the plants that can heal their children.
A princess butterfly. (Photo: Internet).
Ophryocystis elektroscirrha is the name of a parasite that infects a butterfly. They enter the caterpillar's intestine and remain until the worm becomes a butterfly. De Roode, a biology professor at Emory University in the United States, and his colleagues learned how to fight the disease of princess butterflies. They found that they regularly lay eggs on some milk grasses - their food.
According to Discovery , after monitoring and analyzing, the team found that the chemicals in the milk plants can prevent the disease that parasites cause in butterflies. This phenomenon shows that butterflies have developed their own healing abilities during evolution.
' Our research provides the clearest evidence of insect self-healing ability ,' De Roode said.
De Roode's discovery is interesting because butterflies are relatively low in the food chain and their self-healing behavior is genetic.
" Butterfly mother shows self-healing behavior, but only their children benefit ," said Thierry Lefevre, a member of the research team.
The healing power of animals can also bring many benefits to people in the future. For example, many scientists have begun to study the chemical composition of milk grass species to see what diseases they can cure for humans.