Question

Explain self-defence by animals and plants through chemical warfare.

Answer 1

Hint: Self – defense through chemicals is done to reduce the prediction risk. Plants release the chemical substances in the root from their soil where the substances decay or are modified. Whereas in animals, they inject the chemical inside the other body through the bite or sting.

Complete answer:
Plants and animals are given special features for their self-defence so as to protect themselves from attacks of an enemy. Some of these are enlisted below.

Honey bees are the common animal species that have a special chemical sting which they use as a defence tool. The bees contain acid in their sting which they inject into the body of the host. When the bee stings someone, the bee injects acid which they usually do by pushing their sting in the skin.
Because of this, the person feels irritation and the skin gets swollen where the bee bites. To neutralize this acidic effect one is recommended to rub baking soda, toothpaste, or a mild base.

Ants are another species of animal that have self-defence features. They use their bites as a defence tool. An ant’s bites generally contain methanoic acid. If one gets bitten one must rub a mild base like baking soda for the neutralisation of their bite.

There are some plants such as nettle that have a sting as a defence tool. If a person tries to touch Nettle it leaves a stung the same as a honey bee does. This results in irritation and pain around the area where they got stung. This acidic effect can also be neutralized by rubbing a mild base at the place of injection.

Note: Chemical defence is a life history strategy that is generally employed by most of the organism so as to avoid consumption by production of toxic and many repellent metabolites. The production of defensive chemicals occurs in most of the vertebrates, plants, fungi and in invertebrates.