poisonous plants
Bob Rutemoeller (Wed, 08 Jun 2005 18:00:02 PDT)

Mary Sue reminded me to share an interesting tale of the Numbat. When we
were in Western Australia, many years ago, we went to a state forest that
was a refuge for the Numbat, an interesting marsupial that eats termites.
The driver/guide told us the Numbats were saved from possible extinction.
Introduced foxes had killed most of the Numbats in other areas, but in that
forest, a poisonous native pea grew. The wild pigeons ate the poisonous
peas, but were not effected. The foxes caught the wild pigeons and died
after eating them.
One of our Santa Cruz friends was going to buy some of that pea seed and
see if her local deer problem might be lessened. I don't think she tried it.
Nature has some interesting quirks.

Bob Rutemoeller
brutem@mcn.org