Sunday 20 April 2014

How some bugs are like bad Elvis impersonators

Science Focus

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If you're an Elvis impersonator, your impression better be pretty spot-on if you want to avoid getting heckled by the audience. But if you're any one of a number of animals that mimic other species to survive, a poor impression can mean death. Thankfully, a new study suggests that nature can be pretty forgiving of an imperfect imitation.

Some animals defend themselves from predators through what biologists call Batesian mimicry: they take on the appearance of another prey species that's poisonous, dangerous in some other way, or just plain unpalatable. Predators avoid the model species for good...

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original post: http://theweek.com/article/index/260088/how-some-bugs-are-like-bad-elvis-impersonators
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