The workers of these remarkable animals often have one function alone – to raid the nests of other ant species and steal the brood. Insects can be equally devious, seen in the behaviour of cuckoo bees, and the audacious slave-maker ants. The cuckoo often even lays eggs that mimic the colour and pattern of those of their host, so the host can’t tell the difference. The common cuckoo, a notorious cheat, lays its eggs in the nests of other species, so the foster parents rear the cuckoo chick instead. One flower from Hainan Island, China, mimics the alarm pheromones and appearance of bees, thus attracting a ferocious predatory hornet.Īnd once mating has been achieved there are young to be cared for. Other species create the false promise of food. One method is to lure male insects with smells and colours resembling a potential mate, like bee orchids that attract male bees. Orchids have an astounding range of approaches which they use to get insects to pollinate their flowers, while offering no reward.
Organisms also cheat for reproductive reasons. Bates noted that many edible butterflies mimicked the colour and behaviour of toxic species, and were avoided by attackers.Īnother striking example is jumping spiders, some of which mimic the appearance of ants, which predators often avoid owing to their strong defences. Some excellent early evidence for evolution and natural selection was provided by Henry Bates, an entomologist who travelled to the Amazon with Wallace. Many hoverflies are known for looking like bees and wasps to avoid predators. These colourful signals work by exploiting “preferences” that many animals have in their sensory systems to be drawn to conspicuous stimuli. The Venus flytrap produces smells that mimic food, luring in flies, and some pitcher plants have been shown to use attractive fluorescent glowing blue colours. Many web-building spiders use bright colours to attract prey, and carnivorous plants also use overt signals and mimicry to attract victims. Thieves and roguesīut stealing food seems benign compared to the deception of predators, which use mimicry and enticement to lure victims directly into the jaws of death. The alarm calls drongos use even mimic those made by the animals they exploit. The drongo watches as a meerkat digs up a juicy beetle and then makes a false alarm call, which causes the meerkat to flee, allowing the bird to swoop down and claim the prey for itself.
However, much of the time the drongo’s calls are made when no predator is around. The fork-tailed drongo is a bird found in Southern Africa that lurks around group-living species, including meerkats, and might at first appear helpful because it sounds alarm calls when a predator approaches. One of the main uses of deception in nature is to secure food.
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