Megan Clark - Camouflage and Mimicry

My name is Megan Clark, and I have lived in Kansas for seven years. Before that I lived in North Carolina near Raleigh. My parents are divorced and my dad lives in Chicago.



I have two younger brothers and two cats. I like to draw, and I have a job. I'm not sure what I want to do when I get out of high school. Either something to do with the arts or animals.



Every animal has to be able to survive. Some use poison, or adaptations. There are animals that use camouflage and mimicry, and these are the interesting ones. Some animals will take on the major traits of another animal to prevent being eaten. The Monarch butterfly is poisonous to other animals when they eat it, and there is another butterfly named the Viceroy that looks very similar to it. No other animals will take the chance of eating something poisonous. Mimicry is defined by when one animal copies another’s appearance, actions, or sounds. Usually this is to avoid predators, and they usually make themselves appear like a predator to escape notice.



Camouflage is not supposed to make them look like predators, but to let them hide from the predators. It is a form of deceptive coloration to conceal them from everything they wish. There are a few types of camouflage which are background matching, color changing, disruptive coloration, and counter shading. Background matching would be when an animal adapts so its skin is the same color as a background.

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Color changing is what is sounds like; when an animal is able to change the color of its skin. A background matching animal would be a snake or frog. Disruptive coloration would be like a zebra, the stripes don't allow you to see where it's body ends. A color changing example is a chameleon, and counter shading would be when an animal has a darker top, and a lighter bottom, like a penguin. These camouflaging methods took millions of years to refine and are still in work.



There are two types of mimicry; Batesian mimicry and Mullerian mimicry. Batesian mimicry is when two animals look alike and one of them is poisonous. The other is when both animals are toxic, but they look alike for extra benefits. The first kind can be shown by the Drone Bee to the right. It has adapted to look like a honey bee. There is a moth named the Cinnabar Moth, and while it is in larval state it has black and yellow stripes. It tastes horrible, and they avoid eating Yellow Jackets because of it. This is a form of Mullerian mimicry.



Both of these traits were, and are necessary for survival. Without them none of the survival rates would be very steady; It would just be luck. Now it is which organism can overcome the other one's adaptations. The shark has not evolved for many years because it is so old. Nothing threatens it except humans so it has no big reason to change. Most animals are still adapting though, and it takes millions of years to form adaptations.



Links:
http://www.nhptv.org/NatureWorks/nwep2a.htm
http://xnet.rrc.mb.ca/davidb/introduction2.htm
http://ladywildlife.com/animal/howmimicryprotectsanimals.html
http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_insects/Mimicry.htm
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/adaptations/camou1.html