Mimicry (imitative resemblance). Protective coloration in animals. Mimicry, camouflage and protective coloring Mimicry of animals of different species

Mimicry of color

Wallace was especially concerned with the study of the phenomenon of mimicry from the point of view of evolutionary theory. The most widespread and long-known phenomenon is the general correspondence, harmony in the color of the animal with its habitat. Among arctic animals, a white body color is very often observed. Some have it throughout the year: polar bear, snowy owl, bowhead falcon; in others, living in areas that are freed from snow for the summer, the brown color changes to white only in winter: arctic fox, ermine, white hare. The benefits of such a device are obvious.

Another example of a widespread protective or harmonic coloration is observed in the deserts of the globe. Insects, lizards, birds and animals present here a huge selection of sand-colored forms, in all its various shades; this is seen not only in small creatures, but even in large ones such as steppe antelopes, lions, or camels. To what extent imitative coloring generally protects from the sight of enemies is well known to every hunter; hazel grouse, woodcock, great snipe, partridges are examples.

The same phenomenon and in the widest sizes is represented by marine fauna: fish, crayfish and other organisms living on the bottom, due to their color and uneven surface of the body, are extremely difficult to distinguish from the bottom on which they live; this similarity is further enhanced in some cases by the ability to change its color depending on the color of the bottom, which, for example, cephalopods, some fish and crustaceans possess. This action is performed automatically, regulated, most often, by the retina. Light irritation is transmitted to pigment cells with divergent fibers - chromatophores that can contract, expand and be surrounded by a halo independently of one another, creating numerous color combinations. I. Loeb defined the mechanism of such a phenomenon as telephotography of an image that appears on the retina to the surface of the body, diffuse transfer from the retina to the skin.

Among the pelagic animals of the sea, freely swimming all their lives in the water, one of the most remarkable adaptations in color is observed: among them there are precisely many forms, devoid of any color, with a vitreous transparency of the body. Salps, jellyfish, ctenophores, some mollusks and worms and even fish (larvae of conger eels Leptocephalidae) represent a number of examples where all tissues, all organs of the body, nerves, muscles, blood, became transparent, like crystal.

Among the various cases of so-called harmonic coloration, there are also adaptations to certain lighting conditions, the play of light and shadow. Animals that seem brightly colored and variegated outside normal living conditions can actually harmonize and merge with the color of the environment. The bright, dark and yellow, transverse striping of the skin of the tiger easily hides it from view in the thickets of reeds and bamboos, where it lives, merging with the play of light and shadow of vertical stems and hanging leaves. Round spots on the skin of some forest animals have the same meaning: fallow deer ( lady lady), leopard, ocelot; here these spots coincide with the round glare of light with which the sun plays in the foliage of trees. Even the variegated skin of a giraffe is no exception: at some distance it is extremely difficult to distinguish a giraffe from the old tree trunks overgrown with lichens, between which it grazes.

A similar phenomenon is represented by bright, colorfully colored coral reef fish.

Form Mimicry

Phyllocrania paradoxa has the shape and color of leaves

Finally, there are cases when animals acquire an extraordinary resemblance not only in color, but also in shape with individual objects among which they live, which is called imitation, M. There are especially many such examples between insects. Moth caterpillars ( Geometridae) live on the branches of plants with which they are similar in color, and have the habit, attaching themselves with their hind legs, to stretch and hold their body motionless in the air. In this respect, they are so reminiscent of small dry twigs of plants that the most keen and experienced eye can hardly see them. Other caterpillars resemble bird excrement, fallen catkins of birches, etc.

There are known cases of external resemblance to ants (Myrmecomorphy).

Amazing adaptations are tropical stick insects from the family Phasmidae: they imitate the color and shape of the body - some are dry sticks several inches long, others are leaves. Butterflies of the genus Kallima from Southeast Asia, brightly colored on the upper side of the wings, when they sit on a branch and fold their wings, they take the form of a withered leaf: with short outgrowths of the hind wings, the butterfly rests on the branch, and they resemble a petiole; the pattern and color of the back side of the folded wings are so reminiscent of the color and venation of a dried leaf that at the closest distance the butterfly is extremely difficult to distinguish from the leaves. Similar examples are known from the marine fauna; so, a small fish from the group of seahorses, Phyllopteryx eques living off the coast of Australia, thanks to numerous ribbon-like and filamentous leathery outgrowths of the body, it resembles the algae among which it lives. It is clear what service such devices render to animals in avoiding enemies.

Mimicry of sound

There are many animals that use sound imitation as a defense mechanism. Mostly this phenomenon occurs among birds. For example, the burrowing owl, while living in rodent burrows, can imitate the hissing of a snake.

predatory grasshopper Chlorobalius leucoviridis, common in Australia, makes sounds that imitate the mating signals of female cicadas, attracting males of the corresponding species.

Predator and prey

An example of mimicry: a flower spider on an inflorescence

In other cases, the camouflage resemblance, on the contrary, serves as a means for predators to stalk and even attract prey, for example, in many spiders. Various insects from the praying mantis group ( Mantidae) in India represent, while remaining motionless, a striking resemblance to a flower, which attracts insects that are caught. Finally, the phenomenon of M. in the strict sense of the word is imitation by animals of another species.

There are brightly colored insects, which, for various reasons (for example, because they are equipped with a stinger or due to the ability to secrete poisonous or repulsive substances, smell and taste), are relatively protected from attack by enemies; and next to them there are sometimes other species of insects, devoid of protective devices, but in their appearance and color presenting a deceptive resemblance to their well-protected counterparts. In tropical America, butterflies from the family Heliconides. They have large, delicate, brightly colored wings, and their color is the same on both sides - upper and lower; their flight is weak and slow, they never hide, but always land openly on the upper side of leaves or flowers; they can be easily distinguished from other butterflies and are conspicuous from afar. All of them have liquids that emit a strong odor; according to the observations of many authors, birds do not eat them and do not touch them; the smell and taste serve as protection for them, and the bright color has a warning value; this explains their large numbers, slow flight and the habit of never hiding. In the same areas, some other species of butterflies from the genera Leptalis and Euterpe, according to the structure of the head, legs and venation of the wings, even belonging to another family, Pieridae; but in general form and coloration of the wings, they represent such an exact copy of the heliconids that in amateur collections they are usually mixed up and taken as one species with them. These butterflies do not possess unpleasant liquids and the smell of heliconids and, therefore, are not protected from insectivorous birds; but having an external resemblance to the heliconids and flying with them, also slowly and openly, thanks to this resemblance, they avoid attack. They are much fewer in number; for several tens and even hundreds of heliconids, there is one leptalide; lost in a crowd of well-protected heliconids, defenseless leptalids, due to their external resemblance to them, are saved from their enemies. This is masking, M. Similar examples are known from various orders of insects, and not only between close groups, but often between representatives of different orders; flies are known that look like bumblebees, butterflies that imitate wasps, etc. In all these cases, M. is accompanied by a similarity in lifestyle or mutual dependence of both similar species. So, flies of the kind Volucella due to their resemblance to bumblebees or wasps, they can penetrate the nests of these insects with impunity and lay eggs; fly larvae feed here on the larvae of nest owners.

Sheep in wolf's clothing

Some organisms, in order to avoid being attacked by frequently encountered predators, pose as predators themselves. Costa Rican butterfly Brenthia hexaselena appearance and movements depicts a spider Phiale formosa(the spider reveals the deception only 6% of the time). One fruit fly copies a zebra jumping spider, which is a territorial predator: having met a spider, the insect spreads its wings with spider legs depicted on them and jumps to the spider, and the spider, thinking that it has fallen into someone else's territory, runs away. In colonies of wandering ants in South America, there are beetles that copy ants by smell and gait.

collective mimicry

Example of collective mimicry among caterpillars

In collective mimicry, a large group of small-sized organisms huddle together to create the image of a large animal (sometimes a specific species) or plant.

Plants

Similar phenomena are also known between plants: for example, deaf nettle ( Lamium album) from the family of labiales in its leaves is extremely reminiscent of stinging nettles ( Urtica dioica), and since nettles are protected by their stinging hairs from herbivores, this similarity can also serve as a defense for deaf nettles.

Pseudopanax thick-leaved plant ( Pseudopanax crassifolius) when young, it has small narrow leaves that visually merge with the forest floor, and growing up to 3 m (the maximum height of the herbivorous flightless bird moa, now extinct), produces leaves that are ordinary in shape, color and size.

Convergence

But at the same time, such cases of similarity between two distant animal species have recently become known, which by no means fit the Wallace explanation of this phenomenon, according to which one species is an imitation of the other due to the greater security of the second species, thereby deceiving its enemies. Such, for example, is the extraordinary resemblance between two European night butterflies: Dichonia aprilina and Moma Orion, which, however, never fly together, since the first flies in May, the second in August-September. Or, for example, the remarkable resemblance between the European butterfly vanessa prorsa and a butterfly of sorts Phycioides, found in the Argentine Republic, with such a geographical distribution of these species cannot be a case of mimicry. In general, M. is only a special case of that phenomenon of convergence, convergence in development, the existence of which we observe in nature, but the immediate causes and conditions of which are unknown to us.

see also

• Science fiction film Wildlife: Camouflage and protective coloration
• Batesian mimicry
• Müllerian mimicry
• Mimicry Vavilov
• Aggressive mimicry
• pseudocopulation

Notes

Links

• Wallace, "Natural Selection", translated by Wagner (St. Petersburg, );
• Wallace, "Darwinism" (L., );
• Porchinsky, "Caterpillars and butterflies of the Petersburg province" ("Proceedings of the Russian Entomological Society", vols. XIX and XXV, and g.);
• Beddard, "Animal coloration" (L., );
• Plateau, "Sur quelques cas de faux mimétisme" ("Le naturaliste", );
• Haase, "Untersuchungen über die Mimikry" ("Bibl. zoolog." Chun & Leuckart, );
• Seitz, Allgemeine Biology d. Schmetterlinge" (Spengel's "Zool. Jabrb", 1890-94).
• Roger Caillois. Mimicry and legendary psychasthenia // Kayua R. Myth and man. Man and the sacred. M.: OGI, 2003, p. 83-104

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Synonyms:

imitative similarity of some animals, mainly insects, with other species, providing protection from enemies. It is difficult to draw a clear line between it and the patronizing color or form. In the narrowest sense, mimicry is the imitation by a species, defenseless against some predators, of the appearance of a species avoided by these potential enemies due to inedibility or the presence of special means of protection. For example, the butterfly Limenitis archippus mimics the butterfly Danaus plexippus, which is not pecked by birds because it tastes bad. However, mimicry in relation to insects can be called several other types of protective adaptations. For example, a stick insect looks like an "inanimate" thin twig. The pattern on the wings of many butterflies makes them almost indistinguishable against the background of tree bark, mosses or lichens. Strictly speaking, this is a protective coloration, but there is a clear protective imitation of other objects, i.e., in a broad sense, mimicry.

forms of mimicry. There are three main types of mimicry - apathetic, sematic and epigamous.
Apathetic mimicry is the similarity of a species with an object of the natural environment - animal, plant or mineral origin. Due to the diversity of such objects, this type of mimicry falls into many smaller categories. Sematic (warning) mimicry is an imitation in shape and color of a species avoided by predators due to the presence of special means of protection or an unpleasant taste. It occurs in larvae, nymphs, adults, and possibly even pupae. Epigamic mimicry, or coloration, can be seen in sexually dimorphic species. An inedible animal is imitated either by males or females. At the same time, females sometimes imitate several differently colored species that occur either in a given area in different seasons or in different parts of the range of the imitator species. Darwin considered this type of mimicry the result of sexual selection, in which a defenseless form becomes more and more like a protected one in the process of destroying less perfect imitators by natural enemies. Those who manage to more accurately copy someone else's appearance survive due to this similarity and give offspring. The ratio of the numbers of copied and copying species. The inedible form copied by another species must obviously be so abundant that natural enemies very quickly (after the first one or two attempts to feast on individuals of the corresponding appearance) learn to avoid it. If there are more imitators than originals, such training will naturally be delayed, and both the original and the copy will have to suffer from this. As a rule, the number of copied individuals is many times higher than that of copying individuals, although here there may be rare exceptions, for example, when development conditions for the former are unfavorable, and for the latter they are close to ideal.
examples of mimicry. Day butterflies. In North America, the most striking example of mimicry is the imitation of the butterfly Limenitis archippus (its English name is viceroy, viceroy) to another butterfly - Danaus plexippus (this large beautiful butterfly is called the monarch). They are very similar in coloration, although the imitator is somewhat smaller than the original and carries an "extra" black arc on the hind wings. This mimicry is limited to adults (adults), and the caterpillars of the two species are completely different. The "original" caterpillars carry a bright black-yellow-green pattern, which they boldly show to birds and other predators. The larvae of the imitator species, on the contrary, are inconspicuous, speckled, outwardly resembling bird droppings. Thus, the imago stage here serves as an example of mimicry in the narrow sense of the word, and the caterpillar shows a protective coloration.

Mimicry is widespread in many regions of Southeast Asia and Australia. Among the butterflies that live here, danaids and many species of sailboats have an unpleasant taste for birds and other predators. Their appearance, as far as possible, is copied by completely edible species of sailboats and butterflies of other families. Moreover, sometimes sailboats and Danaids, protected from enemies, copy each other's appearance no less skillfully than their defenseless imitators do. A similar situation is observed in the tropics of America and Africa. One of the classic examples of mimicry is the African butterfly Hypolimmas misippus, which, depending on the geographical area, imitates different types of danaids and, thus, is itself represented by outwardly different forms. Night butterflies. Most of the literature on mimicry describes it on the example of representatives of the Lepidoptera order, but excellent examples of imitation are known among other groups of insects and other animals. Caterpillars of one of the South American hawk moth species in a calm state look extremely unremarkable, however, if they are disturbed, they rear up and arch the body, inflating its front end. The result is a complete illusion of a snake head. For greater reliability, the caterpillars slowly sway from side to side. Spiders. As you know, spiders are the worst enemies of insects. However, the spider synemosina ant-like is so similar to an ant that, only by looking closely, it is possible to recognize mimicry. On the other hand, some ants and other insects at certain stages of their development resemble spiders in appearance and habits. Bees and wasps. These insects serve as favorite role models. Their appearance and behavior are copied by many species of flies. Some of the imitators not only use wasp coloration, but, when caught, pretend that they are going to sting and buzz almost the same as the "originals". Many species of moths from several families are also similar to bees and wasps - in flight or at rest. Beetles. Thousands of species of insects imitate their appearance to animal excrement. Many beetles resort to this form of mimicry, which complement their resemblance to animal feces by pretending to be dead when they sense danger. Other beetles at rest resemble plant seeds. Stick insects. The most amazing imitators include representatives of the squad of stick insects, or ghosts. At rest, these insects are almost indistinguishable from thin twigs. At the first appearance of danger, they freeze, but when the fright passes, they begin to move slowly, and if they are disturbed again after a short period of time, they fall from the plant to the ground. The famous representatives of the leaf family, living in the Pacific and South Asian regions, are so similar to the leaves of some plants that you can only notice them when they move. In this regard, only leaf butterflies, which on a branch are indistinguishable from a dry leaf of a plant, can compete with them. Some types of diurnal butterflies have chosen a different method of disguise: their wings are transparent, so these insects are almost invisible in flight.
Other forms of mimicry. Mimicry is one of the least studied areas of entomology. Unfortunately, traditionally, the main attention here was paid to cases of imitation in adults, and only recently has interest in the imitation capabilities of immature stages of insects begun to grow. Perhaps one of the most effective types of mimicry is the complete loss by an animal of external resemblance to an animated object and, in general, to anything specific (a kind of "anti-mimicry"). Bed bugs are known in which the shape of the legs, chest or head is so atypical for living creatures that the insect as a whole looks completely "non-bug-like". In some cockroaches, grasshoppers, bedbugs, spiders and many other species, the "dissected" coloration of the body, consisting of irregular outlines of stripes and spots, breaks its contours, as it were, allowing the animal to more fully merge with the background. Legs, antennae and other parts of the body sometimes look so "atypical" that this alone scares off potential predators. Harmless diurnal insects often achieve an outward resemblance to stinging or inedible species through the movements of their bicolored legs.

• - the similarity of individual plant organs with other organs or elements of the environment. M. usually serves to attract beneficial and repel harmful insects ...

  Plant anatomy and morphology

• - The external resemblance of one animal to another animal, developed in the process of natural selection and usually provides certain advantages to the animal imitator ...

  Great Psychological Encyclopedia

• - imitative similarity of some animals, mainly insects, with other species, providing protection from enemies. It is difficult to draw a clear boundary between it and a protective color or form...

  Collier Encyclopedia

• - mimicry - External similarity of an unprotected organism of one species with a protected organism of another species; M. is more common in animals - mimesia or mimetism ...

  Molecular biology and genetics. Dictionary

• - have one of the types of patronage. colors and shapes, with which it looks like objects of the environment. Contributes to the preservation of well-being in the struggle for existence ...

  Natural science. encyclopedic Dictionary

• - MIMICRY, see Art. Protective coloration and shape of animals...

  Ecological dictionary

• - an expression originally introduced into zoology to refer to some special cases of extreme external resemblance between different species of animals belonging to different genera and even families and ...

  Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• - mimesia, in animals - one of the types of protective coloration and shape, in which there is a similarity of the animal with environmental objects, plants, and also inedible for predators or ...

  Great Soviet Encyclopedia

• - in animals, one of the types of protective coloration and shape, in which the animal looks like environmental objects, plants, inedible or predatory animals ...

  Big encyclopedic dictionary

• - R., D., Pr....

  Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language

• - MIMICRY, -and, wives. . In certain animals and plants: the similarity of color and shape with the environment, contributing to their struggle for existence ...

  Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

• - MIMICRY, mimicry, pl. no, female . Involuntary, imitative reproduction by some animals, for the purpose of self-defense, of the shapes and colors of other animals or the environment. || transfer...

  Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

• - mimicry I The protective adaptation of some species of animals and plants, expressed in their similarity with other animals and plants, as well as with environmental objects ...

  Explanatory Dictionary of Efremova

• - mimic...

  Russian spelling dictionary

• - MIMETISM or. The imitative coloration and resemblance of animals to inanimate objects or to their habitat, protecting them from the eyes of enemies ...

  Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

• - Á n. see _Appendix II Information about the origin of the word: The word is borrowed by our language from English, but it does not retain the stress on the second syllable, as in this language, cf. mimicry...

  Dictionary of Russian accents

"MIMICRY" in books

Mimicry and anthropomorphism

From the book Chukovsky author Lukyanova Irina

The mimicry and anthropomorphism of "Borodul" was already over, the book "Nekrasov: articles and materials" was prepared for publication in Kubucha (the publishing house of the Commission for the Improvement of the Life of Scientists), children's fairy tales were waiting for publication and reprinting, but nothing happened! In Leningrad unexpectedly

3.Mimicry

From the book Historical Tales author Nalbandyan Karen Eduardovich

3. Mimicry Ariadne Efron writes from the Turukhansk exile: "I console myself with the fact that I acquire the color of the surrounding

Chapter 4 Mimicry

From the book Thus Spoke Goebbels the author Goebbels Joseph

Chapter 4 Mimicry Mimicry. "Das Reich", July 20, 1941 An article published in the Nazi newspaper "Das Reich" on July 20, 1941, shortly after the German attack on the USSR. One of Goebbels' most violent and successful attacks on the Jews. Encyclopedic reference. MIMICRY (English mimicry, from Greek mimikos

Mimicry (Mimétisme)

From the book Philosophical Dictionary author Comte Sponville André

Mimicry (Mim?tisme) The ability to become different, that is, similar to what you are not, imitating it against your own will. Mimicry has more to do with physiology and impregnation than conscious learning. Chameleon merging with the environment

Mimicry and dogmatism

From the book Powerlessness of Power. Putin's Russia author Khasbulatov Ruslan Imranovich

Mimicry and dogmatism Another noticeable trend is that officials at all levels, including provincial administrators, party leaders, businessmen, etc., are hastily acquiring various kinds of diplomas from the most prestigious higher educational institutions in the country,

Mimicry

From the book Encyclopedic Dictionary (M) author Brockhaus F. A.

Mimicry

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (MI) of the author TSB

Mimicry

From the book I know the world. Insects the author Lyakhov Petr

Mimicry Mimicry is the imitative resemblance of an unprotected organism to a protected or inedible one. It is known in a large number of groups of animals. And it is best studied on the examples of butterflies: they are relatively easy to collect in large series, to consider details

Mimicry

From the book The smartest, or New fighters of the invisible front author Maslennikov Roman Mikhailovich

Mimicry Frankie's voice continued to burn with a verb: “Many employees look like their bosses ... Mimicry, gentlemen. Everyone is still amazed at my portrait resemblance to Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, the most persistent party member. I first saw him in 1956. Above average height

Mimicry of Needs

From the book Entertaining Relationship Physics author Gagin Timur Vladimirovich

Mimicry of needs Often the manifestations of some needs mimic the manifestations of others. There are even typical cases of such mimicry. We will analyze them. Acceptance and self-esteem They, indeed, are often confused. And the difference is actually fundamental: if there is a need for acceptance,

Exercise 30 Mimicry

From the book 50 exercises for developing manipulation skills author Carré Christophe

Exercise 30 Mimicry Imagine yourself in the following situation and answer the question. You go shopping with your spouse. You hope to convince him to buy a decent shirt so that he finally takes off this T-shirt that he has been wearing since you were with him.

Killer Mimicry

From the book Consumerism [A disease that threatens the world] author Vann David

Killer Mimicry The surprises keep coming. Other dead zones appear in them, located on the Great Lakes, in the Arctic, and sometimes in the human uterus. As evidence in a heinous crime investigation, incoming data reports

POLITBURO AND MIMICRY

From the book Man with a ruble author Khodorkovsky Mikhail

POLITBURO AND MIMICRY MENATEP and similar structures are accused of leading to social stratification, to social inequality. It is overlooked that, in fact, social inequality flourished all seventy years, was generously fed and stimulated

Mimicry of Falsity

From the book Literaturnaya Gazeta 6277 (No. 22 2010) author Literary Newspaper

Mimicry of Falseness Television Mimicry of Falsity TELEMUSIC It is not so easy to please someone walking through life with a song. Born in the USSR with a tuning fork in his head, he is demanding and starts up with a half turn. There are many such sensitive to falsehood - at the peak of the "stagnation" about 120,000 pianos were produced in

Soul Mimicry

From the book Literaturnaya Gazeta 6389 (No. 42 2012) author Literary Newspaper

Mimicry of the soul Mimicry of the soul Mail "LG" Careerism has always existed, and not only with a minus sign. Didn't the young Dostoevsky think about a literary career when he started his immortal novels? Or Kutuzov, who surrendered Moscow, made a risky maneuver, did not

Protective coloration is a protective color and shape of animals that make their owners invisible in their habitats. In fact, this is a kind of passive defense against natural predators. Protective coloration is combined with a certain behavior of its owner. Usually the animal hides against a background that matches its color, in addition, it takes a certain pose. For example, many butterflies settle on the surface of a tree in such a way that the spots on their wings coincide with the spots on the bark, and the bittern, which nests in the reeds, in case of danger, stretches its body along the stems of plants.

The role of passive protection in animal life

Protective coloration is especially important for protecting organisms at an early stage of ontogeny (larvae, eggs, chicks), as well as for adults leading a sedentary mode of existence or at rest (for example, sleep) for a long period. In addition, it plays an important role in a rapidly changing environment. So, in many animals, the possibility of changing color when moving to another background is due. For example, in the agama, flounder, chameleon. In temperate latitudes, many animals and birds are subject to seasonal color changes.

It is customary to distinguish between three types of patronizing demonstration and mimicry. All of them arise as a result of the interaction of living beings in biogeocenosis against the background of certain environmental conditions. Protective coloration is a biocenotic adaptation developed as a result of the coupled evolution of predators and prey. In addition to patronizing, there are also warning, attractive and dismembering colors.

Protective coloring

As mentioned above, the protective coloration of animals always bears a resemblance to the environment in which they live. For example, desert lizards or snakes have a yellow-gray color to match the vegetation and soil, and the inhabitants of the snowy regions have white feathers and fur. This disguise of animals allows them to remain invisible to enemies. It can be to some extent the same for the inhabitants of completely different natural zones. For example, praying mantises or grasshoppers, lizards or frogs living in the grassy cover of the middle zone are characterized by green colors. It also predominates in insects, reptiles, amphibians, and even in some species of tropical forest birds. Often, protective coloration may include a pattern. For example, ribbon butterflies have an ornament of many stripes, spots and lines on their wings. When they sit on a tree, they completely merge with the pattern of its bark. Another important element of protective coloration is the countershade effect - this is when the illuminated side of the animal has a darker color than that which is in the shade. This principle is observed in fish that live in the upper layers of the water.

seasonal coloring

For example, consider the inhabitants of the tundra. So, partridges or arctic foxes in summer have a brown color to match the color of vegetation, stones and lichens, and in winter it becomes white. Also, the inhabitants of the middle lane, such as foxes, weasels, hares, ermines, change their coat color twice a year. Seasonal coloration exists in insects as well. For example, a leaf-winged plant with folded wings is remarkably similar to a tree leaf. In summer it is green, and in autumn it becomes brown-yellow.

Frightening coloration

Animals with bright colors are clearly visible, they often keep open, in case of danger they do not hide. They do not need to be careful, as they are often poisonous or inedible. Their warning coloring signals to everyone around - do not touch. Most often, it includes various combinations of such colors: red, black, yellow, white. Examples include a number of insects: wasps, bees, hornets, ladybugs, etc.; and animals: dart frogs, salamanders. For example, poison dart frog slime is so poisonous that it is used to treat arrowheads. One such arrow can kill a large leopard.

Let's look at what is meant by this term. Mimicry in animals is the resemblance of defenseless species to species that are well protected. A similar phenomenon in nature was first discovered in South American butterflies, so in flocks of hyliconids (inedible for birds) whites were seen, which were very similar in color, size, shape and manner of flight to the first. This phenomenon is widespread among insects (glass butterflies disguise themselves as hornets, syphid flies as wasps and bees), fish and snakes. Well, we have considered what mimicry is, now we will deal with the concept of form, dismembering and changing coloring.

Protective form

There are many animals in which the shape of the body is similar to various objects of the environment. Such properties save them from enemies, especially if the shape is combined with a protective color. There are many types of caterpillars that can stretch out at an angle to a tree branch and freeze, in which case they become like a twig or knot. The resemblance to plants is widespread in tropical species diabolical, cicada adelungia, cycloper, acridoxen, etc. With the help of the body, a sea clown or a rag-picker horse can be disguised.

Dissecting coloration

The coloring of many representatives of the animal world is a combination of stripes and spots that do not correspond to the shape of the owner, but merge with the surrounding background in tone and ornament. Such a coloring, as it were, dismembers the animal, hence its name. An example would be a giraffe or a zebra. Their spotted and striped figures are almost imperceptible among the vegetation of the African savanna, especially at dusk, when the hunt comes out. A large masking effect due to dismembering coloring can be observed in some amphibians. For example, the body of the South African toad Bufo superciliaris is visually divided into two parts, as a result it completely loses its shape. Many also have dissecting colors, which makes them invisible against the background of fallen leaves and variegated vegetation. In addition, this type of disguise is actively used by the inhabitants of the underwater world and insects.

changing color

This property makes animals hardly noticeable when the situation changes. There are many fish that can change their color when the background changes. For example, flounder, thalassoma, sea needles, skates, dogs, etc. Lizards can also change their color, this is most pronounced in the tree chameleon. In addition, the octopus mollusk changes its color in case of danger, it can also skillfully disguise itself as soils of any color, while repeating the most cunning seabed ornament. Various crustaceans, amphibians, insects and spiders masterfully manage their colors.