A recent study shows the bare minimum mimicry that you need to evolve so that you can fool potential predators. The study was conducted by John Skelhorn, Grace G. Holmes, Thomas J. Hossie and Thomas N. Sherratt, and published in the Journal of Behavioral Ecology. Carl Zimmer, science writer, describes the study in non-technical language.
Canadian swallow tail caterpillar
This caterpillar, larva of the Canadian tiger swallow tail, Papilio canadensis, has fake eyes on a large head that it inflates further also sticking out its defensive organ (which looks like a snake’s tongue) when it spots a predator — the predator gets fooled and scared away by the fake snake.
The scientists conducted a clever study using baked pastry models to demonstrate just how minimally snake-like the fake snake needs to look.
And, as a bonus, a little bit about these caterpillars and how Pokemon characters were inspired by different insects, including this one.
R. Dawkins The Greatest Show On Earth. Beautiful colour photo of the rear end of a caterpillar that looks exactly like a snake! He also talks about wasp-mimicking and bee-mimicking hoverflies… something about “breeding negatively” … as opposed to peahens ” breeding positively” (peacocks for beauty). Abs fascinating.