Mimicry in animals is a common form of protection from predators. For instance, two distasteful or toxic butterflies may mimic each other for mutual defense, as the viceroy and monarch butterflies do.

Mimicry occurs when an animal evolves an appearance that is similar to another animal. Although this seems simple enough at first glance, natural selection has found a number of interesting ways to ...

Nature's survival often hinges on intelligence and deception rather than brute strength. Animals like the mimic octopus, lyrebird, and fork-tailed drongo employ remarkable tricks, from camouflage and ...

People love going to zoos. You get a close-up look at wild animals, might get to watch sea lions jump through a hoop, and just might be cussed out by an unruly gang of parrots. Wait, what? That’s ...

On a dusky evening in 2007, while completing her Ph.D., Laura Kelley was traipsing through the backwoods of Queensland, Australia, when she heard her landlady shouting for her cat. Bonnie! Bonnie!

Despite the broad recognition of mimicry among bumble bees, distinct North American mimicry rings have yet to be defined, due in part to the prevalence of intermediate and imperfect mimics in this ...

Some animals use or change their appearance as a survival mechanism. Here are the four types that camouflaged animals most commonly use. Allison Futterman is a Charlotte, N.C.-based writer whose ...

Scientists have long documented mimicry in adult butterflies, but new research shows that caterpillars also use this defense mechanism to deter predators. To protect themselves from hungry predators, ...

ON November 24, Prof. G. D. H. Carpenter, Hope professor of zoology in the University of Oxford, delivered the second part of his inaugural lecture (see NATURE of November 25, p. 813). Dealing with ...