Observations on the illness and consumption of a possibly medicinal plant Vernonia amygdalina (Del.), by a wild chimpanzee in the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania

Animal self-medication and ethno-medicine: Exploration and exploitation of the medicinal properties of plants

Behavioral immunity in insects

Ophryocystis elektroscirrha sp. n., a Neogregarine pathogen of the Monarch Butterfly Danaus plexippus (L.) and the Florida Queen Butterfly D. gilippus berenice Cramer1

Virulence-transmission trade-offs and population divergence in virulence in a naturally occurring butterfly parasite

A natural toxic defense system: Cardenolides in butterflies versus birds

Host plant species affects virulence in monarch butterfly parasites

Behavioural resistance against a protozoan parasite in the monarch butterfly

Self-medication in animals

Just like us, the monarch butterfly sometimes gets sick thanks to a nasty parasite. But biologist Jaap de Roode noticed something interesting about the butterflies he was studying — infected female butterflies would choose to lay their eggs on a specific kind of plant that helped their offspring avoid getting sick. How do they know to choose this plant? Think of it as "the other butterfly effect" — which could teach us to find new medicines for the treatment of human disease.

Jaap de Roode: How butterflies self-medicate

How butterflies self-medicate

Monarch butterflies select specific milkweeds, imparting natural resistance to offspring against parasites, a form of self-medication.

Monarch butterflies, when infected, opt for medicinal milkweed, enhancing offspring survival by mitigating disease impact.

Monarchs' choice of medicinal plants reveals instinctual self-medication, promising insights for human pharmaceutical development.