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Amazing self-protection skills: How insects use camouflage to confuse their enemies?
Survival challenges in the insect world are quite severe, especially when faced with natural enemies. In order to avoid becoming dinner for predators, many insects have evolved various ingenious self-protection techniques, the most unique of which is the so-called "deimatic behavior". These manifestations are full of ingenious psychological warfare, causing predators to temporarily panic when faced with insects' "threat moments", thereby buying valuable escape time for insects.
"Frightening behavior is a fantasy behavior used by insects to confuse predators, including the sudden display of distinctive eye spots or other features."
According to research by biologists, this behavior can be observed in a variety of different insects, including praying mantises, stick insects, moths, etc. When these insects are disturbed, they will immediately display bright colors or prominent eye spots that contrast with their surroundings. For example, a mantis will not only spread its wings, but also spread its front legs and make a loud noise, all of which are meant to intimidate predators. who.
Real examples of insects
For example, the bag moth (Smerinthus ocellatus) has large eyespots, and when disturbed, it slowly moves these eyespots to simulate the movements of a large predator such as an owl. Another example is the peacock butterfly (Aglais io). This butterfly displays four conspicuous eye spots when it opens its wings. This behavior has a strong threatening effect on predatory birds, such as insect-eating birds. Experiments by Australian zoologist A.D. Blest found that the more the color and pattern of eye spots resemble real animal eyes, the stronger the startling effect.
"Experiments show that the frightening effect of eye spots not only depends on the appearance of color, but also the authenticity of the pattern is a key factor."
Diversity of startle behavior
Academic research indicates that startle behavior is not only found in insects, but also in other creatures such as crabs and cephalopods. For example, the patterned octopus (Octopus vulgaris) can quickly change the color and texture of its skin to make it appear larger and more threatening. When it encounters a threat, it flattens its body, expands its surface around its target, and changes color to enhance the threat of its attack.
Inspiration into the psychology of predators
The success of this startling behavior is not only related to the visual presentation of the insect, but also closely related to the psychological reaction of the predator. When a predator encounters an insect for the first time, these excessive reactions can frighten the insect in a short period of time, giving the insect time to escape.
With experience, predators may become accustomed to these behaviors and become less sensitive to their warnings, which may prompt insects to continuously evolve new defense methods."Startling behavior can be regarded as a form of psychological warfare. Insects increase their chances of survival by scaring predators."
Similar behaviors of other organisms
Not just insects, many vertebrates such as invertebrates and some amphibians also exhibit similar behavior. Australia's spiny-necked lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingii) spreads the fan-shaped skin on its neck when frightened, showing a strong intimidation state. Others, such as certain frogs and mammals, such as the spiny iguana (Hemicentetes semispinosus) and the American skunk (Spilogale putorius), also display distinctive defensive behaviors.
Conclusion
Taken together, the frightening behavior of insects demonstrates an intelligent survival strategy under natural selection. They use the environment, color and features to create shocking effects to distract predators and protect their own survival. Faced with such wisdom of biological evolution, have you ever thought about how many wonderful survival laws are hidden in these seemingly fragile creatures?
