Caterpillar Self-Medicates to Fight Off Parasites

First example of an insect with this ability.

SUMMARY: The first evidence that insects are capable of self-medication was recently reported by a Elizabeth Bernays, a U. of Arizona researcher. Some woolly bear caterpillars (picture), larvae of garden tiger moths, have been found to eat drug-laced leaves to rid themselves of dangerous parasites.

During the spring, parasitic flies lay eggs inside woolly bears. When the fly larvae hatch, they munch on their hosts before exploding out of their abdomens. However, infected caterpillars can protect themselves by eating leaves from senecio and other plants that contain drugs called alkaloids (a group of drugs which includes caffeine, morphine and cocaine). Scientists aren't certain whether the alkaloids either attack the parasites directly or help boost the woolly bears' immune system.

Bernays said infected woolly bears were found to have more of the toxic alkaloids than did non-infected caterpillars, but that healthy woolly bears also ingest alkaloids, apparently to make themselves less appetizing to the flies. Too much of the drugs though can kill the woolly bears.

The new findings challenge the idea that only intelligent creatures able to learn, such as primates, are capable of self-medication. In the case of these caterpillars, Bernays says, their immune system may react by altering taste receptors rather than experiencing any change in the cognitive ability of their brains.

To read the entire article, click on this NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC link.

COMMENT: Another example of "intelligent design." I think it is even more remarkable, if the scientist is right, that the immune systems "know" enough about altering taste receptors than it would be if the caterpillars' brains learned the value of the alkaloids.

This situation does pose a question for the creationist though. One might assume that the flies did NOT attack and kill the woolly moths before sin and death entered the world. So why were the caterpillars given this knowledge about the alkaloids? Perhaps they were created with a taste for the drugs in anticipation of the future survival value inherent in the alkaloids. What do you think?

There is also a question here for evolutionists. If the fly larvae evolved their taste for woolly bears before the caterpillars evolved their taste for the drugs, why were not all the caterpillars destroyed. But if the woolly bears evolved a taste for the alkaloids before there was a danger from the parasitic flies, why did they do so, especially considering too much of the drugs could be fatal?

There is no shortage of examples of intelligent design in nature. May we praise our Creator all the more as we learn to appreciate the wisdom constantly on exhibit in His created world.

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QUESTION OF THE DAY

What clock is more accurate than atomic clocks?

The world's most accurate clock, which is located at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Colorado, measures the vibrations of a single atom of mercury (picture). It will not lose one second even in a billion years.

Source: Discover magazine (March, 2009)

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