This is Scientific Americans 60 Second Science. I'm Jason Goldman. Got a minute?

Meet the Wood Tiger Moth.

Its bright yellow, red, or orange scales send a warning to potential predators.

These wonderful conspicuous colors tend to be connected or linked to some sort of chemical

defense.

So when we see the reaction of the birds to them, then we got interested

in studying more in detail the chemical defenses per se.

Biologist Bibiana Rojas from Finland's University of Gyvasgula.

Animals that pair visual warnings with other defenses are called aposematic.

If a hungry predator were to try chowing down on this moth, it would find a mouthful of nasty tasting, possibly even toxic bug parts.

Rojas and her team found that the wood tiger moth secretes nasty

from glands on its neck and from its abdomen.

At first glance this seems like a fairly routine sort of defensive strategy.

After all, nature is full of redundant processes.

But the researchers discovered that the wood tiger moth is the first species known in which the

different fluids from the different parts of a moth's body each target a different type of predator.

The fluids from the moth's abdomen deter ants, but are completely useless against birds.

Meanwhile, the neck fluids are unpalatable to birds, but don't bother ants.

In fact, the ants actually preferred this fluid to sugar water.

The finding is in the proceedings of the Royal Society B.

So we now have the first example of an animal having multiple independent chemical defenses,

but is it truly unique?

...