To get the ball rolling, what exactly is ‘mimicry in animals’?
A mimetic organism (An organism which displays mimicry) is one which resembles another
organism, in order to deceive a third organism (and benefit from said
deception) (Allen and Cooper, 1995).
Mimicry occurs in many different forms, for example behavioral
or morphological, and can largely be divided into 2 categories; ‘aggressive’ or
‘defensive’ mimicry. Aggressive mimicry is an adaption which allows an organism
to appear less dangerous than it really is, to allow it to approach prey more
easily. Defensive mimicry is an adaptation which allows an organism to appear
more dangerous than it is, in order to deter a potential predator (Allen and Cooper, 1995). It is important to
note that camouflage, whilst also being a form of passive defense, is not
a form of mimicry.
Over the course of this semester I’ll explain why animals
mimic other animals, outline some of the many forms of mimicry, as well as look
in detail at some particularly interesting examples of mimetic animals.
Allen, J. A. and Cooper, J. M. 1995, ‘Mimicry’, Journal of Biological Education, vol.
29, no. 1, pp. 23-26
