Post #703718

2026-03-18 22:06 UTC

It&#39;s not weird for some species to incorporate toxins from their diet as defenses: poison dart frogs, monarch butterflies, sea slugs, etc But let&#39;s get weird and circuitous with it #Nicotine was developed by plants to kill insects. As a quirk of #neurochemistry, humans use it addictively, so cigarette butts are everywhere Birds have figured out they can use them in their nests to repel insect parasites The original intention of nicotine Weird! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347226000011 #Science #Ecology

Replies (7)

@MaryAustinBooks@mstdn.social 2026-03-18 22:22

@benroyce Are we sure the birds aren't just crashing out after reading the New York Times?

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@wendinoakland@beige.party 2026-03-18 22:34

@benroyce Lookit, we eat absolutely weird stuff, plenty of it extremely unpleasant until several elaborate transformations (looking at you, olives). That birds have figured out how to harness poisons to their advantage isn’t a surprise.

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@glutto@mastodon.social 2026-03-18 22:44

@benroyce Alternately, cigarette butts are so disgusting they can actually repel insects.

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@em_and_future_cats@mastodon.social 2026-03-18 23:53

@benroyce this stuff always has fascinated me! Also extra tidbit… did you know that hedgehogs 🦔 have learned this too!!! They will take cigarettes, chew them up a bit, then spread their nicotine filled saliva over their bodies 😹 (They also do this with creosote) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zd354 And don’t forget about the crows that bathe in formic acid from spitting ants! 😹

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@kshernandez@me.dm 2026-03-19 01:10

@benroyce Look at nature continuing to teach humans the right way to live.

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@Oldfartrant@mstdn.ca 2026-03-19 02:21

@benroyce will it work on politicians?

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@ermo@fosstodon.org 2026-03-19 13:35

@serebit One for you?

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