Do aposematism and Batesian mimicry require bright colours?
A test, using European viper markings by Dr W Wuster, Dr CSE Allum, Dr IB Bjargardottir, Dr K Bailey, Dr KJ Dawson, Dr J Guenioui, Dr J lewis, Dr J McGurk, Dr AG Moore, Dr M Niskanen and Dr CP Pollard Well-defended animals often advertise their dangerous nature through bright colours and patterns, which are recognised and avoided by predators. However, other well-defended animals have inconspicuous, but sometimes highly characteristic patterns. Can predators learn to avoid such well-defended but inconspicuous prey? Using plasticine snake models, Wster and colleagues showed that wild birds avoid the characteristic but inconspicuous zigzag band of the venomous adder. This shows that bright colours are not necessary to generate predator avoidance of noxious prey. It also demonstrates that Batesian mimicry of inconspicuous but characteristic patterns is possible, and may have been important in the evolution of snakes. Contact: Dr Wolfgang Wuster, School of Biological Sciences, University o
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- Do aposematism and Batesian mimicry require bright colours?
