In article ,
Kay Easton wrote:
In article ,
trevor.appleton writes
How come if Datrura are poisonous mine are eaten to shreds (looks like slug
damage).

Do the slugs have a cast iron constitution?

What is poisonous to an organism depends on the organism's make up and
the chemical processes that go to make its digestive system. IIRC
chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

Yes, precisely. It isn't commonly known, but we are actually one of
the more flexible mammals in this respect, as we have a scavenger's
digestion. Not as extreme as some, but we can eat almost anything a
Norway rat can eat, and that is saying something!

But we aren't as resistant to plant alkaloids as slugs.

If other organisms could eat only those things which we can eat safely,
how would dead plants and animals ever decay?

Very, very slowly, by chemical decomposition :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.