Have you ever pretended to be something else?
An astronaut?
Or a superhero?
Or even your favorite animal?
Well, some animals pretend to be other things, too, but they don’t need to wear special
clothes to do it!
They’re already dressed for the part.
When an animal looks a lot like another animal, even though they’re not the same kind of
creature at all, it’s called mimicry.
And some animals use mimicry in order to keep safe, while others use it to sneak a snack!
Have a look at this butterfly: It’s small, delicate, and doesn’t move very fast.
For a bird, it would be the perfect meal.
The butterfly can’t fight off a bird, but maybe it can pretend to be something else!
Look at the markings on its wings.
Do you see what looks like a pair of big eyes?
To some birds, these special markings don’t just look like any old eyes, they look a lot
like owl eyes!
And you know what owls eat?
Oftentimes, they eat other birds!
So when a bird comes close to this butterfly, it gets a real fright.
By mimicking another animal, the butterfly avoids ending up on the menu, and earns it
the name “Owl Butterfly.”
Now, some animals mimic creatures that aren’t bigger or badder, they’re just dangerous
to eat.
I think we all agree that a bee would be a bad thing to eat, right?
Well, other animals don’t like eating bees, either.
It just takes one sting for them to know to stay away from little insects with black and
yellow stripes.
Those colors signal danger.
But other insects that aren’t bees and don’t even have stingers can have those same colors,
and animals will leave them alone.
Some flies -- like this drone fly -- or beetles -- like this painted locust borer -- or even
some moths, have black and yellow stripes, even though they can’t sting.
But, other animals don’t know that, so they keep their distance—just in case!
Still, for some animals, a bee sting might not be too much of a threat.
But how about … a snake bite?
The coral snake and the false coral snake are both dangerous -- their bites can carry
a potentially deadly dose of venom.
And, they both have patterns of red, black, and yellow or white rings on their scales.
Which is great for snakes that aren’t venomous but also happen to have these same colors!
Like the scarlet kingsnake -- it’s totally harmless, but other animals still give it
plenty of room.
Because … well, take a look at them together!
Would you want to try to tell these snakes apart?
Finally, some animals don’t want to be left alone—they want other animals to come close!
So they use mimicry to attract animals -- especially ones that they want to take a bite out of!
This fish is called a cleaner fish.
They pick parasites and crusty skin off of other fish.
When a fish needs a good cleaning, it might keep an eye out for the little fish with black
and white stripes and a funny way of swimming.
When it spots one, it’ll swim in close and get a good grooming.
But there’s another little fish with black and white stripes that lives in the same reef.
This fish, called a sabretooth blenny, likes to hang out where the cleaner fish work.
But when another fish swims up to it for a nice, relaxing clean, it gets a nasty surprise.
The blenny takes a bite out of the fish’s fin!
So the blenny uses mimicry to trick other fish into thinking it’s helpful, when really
it just wants to eat!
So now you know!
Mimicry is all over the animal kingdom.
Sometimes harmless animals pretend to be harmful, in order to stay safe, and sometimes predators
pretend to be helpful animals in order to get closer to their prey.
Thanks for learning about mimicry with us!
Do you have a question about something you’d like to learn more about?
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See you next time!