primarily feed on sap, ripe and fallen fruits and sugary exudate from aphids, very rarely seen nectaring on flowers. Predation The mourning cloak butterfly faces many predators throughout its development. The mourning cloak's eggs can be eaten by predators such as beetles, true bugs, ants, beetle larvae, wasps, assassin bugs, and mites. Some of the butterflies' major predators include praying mantises, assassin bugs, dragon flies, and vertebrate predators such as birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. Defense mechanisms An anti-predation mechanism the mourning cloaks have employed as adult butterflies is camouflage. To do this, the butterflies fold their wings back when attached to trees as their folded wings will provide camouflage against the dark backdrop of the trees. An additional anti-predation tactic used by the mourning cloaks is to join together with other butterflies in a perch and fly menacingly towards their attackers—most often birds or other butterflies. Mourning cloaks also play dead by closing their wings tightly together and tucking their legs up against their body for protection and holding completely still. They’ll maintain this for a few minutes before returning to their natural healthy and lively behavior. Further defense mechanisms include loud clicks when the mourning cloak flies away from a predator. To protect themselves from the cold weather of their habitats, mourning cloaks will find areas under direct sunlight. This behavior, in conjunction with their darkly-colored wings, allow for maximum heat absorption. Newly hatched mourning cloak caterpillars can display selfish behavior, such as siblicide, by eating non-hatched eggs. The larvae also group together for the duration of their development, preventing some predation by numbers. The larvae and pupae can also respond to disturbances by twitching simultaneously – this may be performed as a defense mechanism. Pollination Mourning cloak butterflies are not known to be significant pollinators, since their primary food source is sap of deciduous trees rather than flowering plants. However, they still can occasionally act as pollinators. Relationship to people Pests On occasions, the gregarious mourning cloak larvae will completely defoliate ornamental trees, in nurseries, plantations, and parks. Some areas that this damage has been documented has been Oregon and Canada. The young willows and poplars could be completely defoliated due to the caterpillars, though mature trees tend not to be affected. Research Mourning cloak butterflies have been a part of some epigenetics experiments testing to determine if the environment affects certain butterfly phenotypic characteristics. Scientists hypothesized