Mimicry Masters

An evolutionary adaptation for survival of some animals is to look similar to another member of your family that is poisonous or tastes very nasty so that predators will steer clear of you.  Here is one of the most common examples.  Do you know which snake is the poisonous coral snake and which are the harmless scarlet king snake and milk snake?

Source: reptilesallsorts.com

Source:  CDC

Source:  freesnake.com

The bottom picture is the coral snake (the top picture is the king snake and the middle photo is the milk snake).  Without being able to compare them, would you know the difference?  The saying, 'red to yellow, kill a fellow; red to black, venom lack' can help, if you can remember it.  However, this only applies to North American coral snakes.  If it reassures you at all, coral snakes are not aggressive and coral snake bites only account for less than one percent of all snake bites in the U.S.  'If in doubt, leave it out' might be a better saying to remember.

Another common example of mimicry is the monarch butterfly and the viceroy.  Do you know which is which?

Source:  butterflyutopia.com

Source: Clemson

The monarch is in the top photo.  Having time to look at them both in a photo, you can see an obvious difference between the two.  If the butterflies were flitting about, it might not be so easy.

Then there are those creatures that mimic another type of animal altogether.  In the next photo can you tell which one is a toxic sea slug and which is a simple flatworm?

Source:  Sea Slug Forum

The sea slug is on the left.  Did you get it?  Now guess which is the spider and which is an ant.

Photo by J. J. Ward F.E.S.   Source:  sourceforge.net

The spider is on the left.  What are supposed to mimic the ant's feelers are another pair of legs.

Hope you had fun. Mimicry gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, 'you can't judge a book by its cover'!