The real story of the viceroy & the monarch
Community Loren Merrill Community Loren Merrill

The real story of the viceroy & the monarch

Monarch butterflies are noxious to potential predators because of the cardenolide toxins lacing their bodies, courtesy of the milkweed plants they fed on as larvae. Viceroy butterflies have no such defenses, so they act as a copycat, disguising themselves as monarchs. 

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Few Eastern box turtles call New England home
Community Loren Merrill Community Loren Merrill

Few Eastern box turtles call New England home

As a budding naturalist growing up in the concrete-heavy environs of Boston, I would regularly thumb through my family’s collection of nature books and daydream about the creatures within. One species I was particularly drawn to was the Eastern box turtle. 

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