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Mimicry

Mimicry. Mimicry. Mimicry allows one animal to look, sound, or act like another animal to fool predators into thinking it is poisonous or dangerous.  . How Does Mimicry Help Animals?.

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Mimicry

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  1. Mimicry

  2. Mimicry • Mimicry allows one animal to look, sound, or act like another animal to fool predators into thinking it is poisonous or dangerous.  

  3. How Does Mimicry Help Animals? Usually, an animal will MIMIC, or imitate, another animals’ behavior to avoid predators. If it can trick its enemy into thinking it is something less tasty or more dangerous, it will survive. For example, some insects have bodies that look like the body of a wasp. Birds often leave wasps alone. They don’t want to be stung. To a bird, the insect that mimics a wasp looks the same as a wasp, so birds leave it alone too. Some kinds of hooverflies even mimic the buzzing sound a wasp makes.

  4. The Macrops butterfly protects itself from predators by having a spot on the wings that looks like an owl’s eyes.

  5. Mimicry Can you guess which one is a sea slug and which is the flatworm mimic? The sea slug gives off poisonous, smelly chemicals to discourage its predators.  Why would the flatworm want to look like the sea slug?

  6. Mimicry Two of these are Bumblebees(with stingers) and two are Robber Flies (which also make a sound similar to a bee). If you were a predator, could you "bee" sure of the difference?

  7. Mimicry The top picture shows a Spicebush swallowtail butterfly. This butterfly adapts to the environment by having the same color wings as a pipevine swallowtail (shown at the bottom).

  8. Mimicry The North American viceroy protects itself from predators by having wings the same color as a monarch butterfly.

  9. Mimicry Is it a snake  or a caterpillar? The enemies of the Hawk Moth caterpillar don't know! So they avoid it--just in case! Click on the picture

  10. Self- Mimicry Self-mimicry is a misleading term for animals that have one body part that mimics another to increase survival during an attack or helps predators appear innocuous. For example, countless moth, butterfly, and freshwater fish species have "eye-spots"?large dark markings that when flashed may momentarily startle a predator and allow the prey extra seconds to escape. "Eye-spots" also help prey escape predators by giving predators a false target. A butterfly has a better chance of surviving an attack to the outer part of its wing than an attack to the head.

  11. Self- Mimicry Less often predators utilize self-mimicry to aid in catching prey by appearing less threatening or fooling the prey as to the origin of the attack. For example, several turtle species and the Frogmouth Catfish (Chaca sp.) of Southeast Asia have tongue extensions that are used as a sort of lure to attract prey to a position where they become an easy catch. One of the most interesting examples of self-mimicry is the so-called "two-headed" snake of Central Africa which has a tail that resembles a head and a head that resembles a tail. The snake even moves its tail in the way most snakes move their heads. This adaptation functions to trick prey into believing the attack is originating from where it is not.

  12. Sources • http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0306.htm • http://www.alleghany.k12.va.us/animal%20adaptation%20webpage/animal_mimicry.htm

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