Page 54 - Wonderful Creatures: Children! Have You Ever Thought ?
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WONDERFUL CREATURES
HOW DO MACAWS
KNOW CHEMISTRY?
Some plants have poisonous seeds. This is an effective met-
hod of protection against enemies that try to eat them. Yet
one parrot species living in America can feed on these poiso-
nous seeds. This is really surprising because while other crea-
tures cannot approach these seeds, these birds that continually
eat them are not affected by them at all. You are curious about
how this happens, aren’t you?
How this parrot species called the macaw is not poisoned has att-
racted the attention of scientists too. Scientists observed macaws
and witnessed a quite extraordinary pattern of behavior.
Having eaten these nutritious but poisonous seeds, macaws
fly towards a rocky place. There they gnaw on and swal-
low some clay-containing rocks. This is not random
behavior. Indeed, rocks that contain clay absorb the
poison of the seeds. This is how the macaw can
digest the seeds without being harmed by them.
How has this bird acquired the medical
knowledge to diagnose the poisonous
effect of the seeds? How does it
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