Animal Mimicry

Adaptation Review

Animal Mimicry

Camouflaged
Animals

Kidpix Project

The Lesson (Kids)

The Lesson (Teacher)

What Is Mimicry?
When one animal copies the appearance, actions, or sounds of
another animal, the first animal is called a MIMIC. You can think of
it as a copycat!

   How Does Mimicry Help Animals?
    Usually, an animal will MIMIC another to avoid predators. If it can
   trick its enemy into thinking it is something less tasty or more
   dangerous, it will survive.

Here are some animals that mimic other animals:

		Can you guess which one is a sea slug and which is the flatworm mimic? The sea slug gives off poisonous, smelly chemicals to discourage its predators. Why would the flatworm want to look like the sea slug? Picture from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=mimicry
Two of these are Bumblebees(with stingers) and two are Robber Flies (which also make a sound similar to a bee). If you were a predator, could you "bee" sure of the difference? Click to hear what the predator would hear
			http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/adaptations/beetle.html
Picture From the Wildlife Preservation Trust International	Is it a snake or a caterpillar? The enemies of the Hawk Moth caterpillar don't know! So they avoid it--just in case!		Go to these websites for more examples & pictures of MIMICRY: Copycats: http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/adaptations/mimicry.html Camouflage and Mimicry http://www.blockpub.com/pages/rainbow/RWcamouflage.html Insect Camouflage and Mimicry: http://www.thewildones.org/Animals/camo.html

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