Tag Archives: mimicry

The Lying Fiddler

Everything lies. For virtually every species, lying and lie detection are essential survival skills. Fiddler crabs that have lost a claw will re-grow a bigger but weaker claw. When challenged by a smaller crab, the weak-clawed fiddler will bluff. It will display a fighting stance that tells the smaller crab that a confrontation would beContinue reading “The Lying Fiddler”

The Braggart Goldenrod

Golden Rod and Vespid wasps (Ptera Hunter, Salem IL, 2006). Yellow attracts many pollinating insects, including these vespid wasps.  Bees and wasps have trichromatic vision (three pigments), but they are not the same visual pigments (opsins) that we have. They can see farther into the ultraviolet but less well in the reds.  Their clue toContinue reading “The Braggart Goldenrod”

Some Paint Choices That Can Cut Your Carbon Footprint and Reduce Your Chemical Usage.

Silent Consent looks at a dystopian world where easy access to energy and power has become part of our past.  Although fiction, its prediction of a polarized world is very plausible.   A caste system with a few powerful elites have controlled many of the pre-carbon era civilizations.  The many others, who serve as their energyContinue reading “Some Paint Choices That Can Cut Your Carbon Footprint and Reduce Your Chemical Usage.”

Mimicry in Insects: A Victorian Print signed H. Morin

 Mimicry in  Insects (19th century; restoration by Ptera Hunter, 2020). This plate contains different mimicking insects. Plates like these challenged the 19th century reader to find as many of the creatures as possible, thus discovering their various deceptions.  Check it out and see how many you see before scrolling down to the key. challenged theContinue reading “Mimicry in Insects: A Victorian Print signed H. Morin”

The Light Benders

Insects produce their amazing array of colours in two different ways. The first is through chemical pigments. The other, and I think more interesting way, is through bending light. These colours result from light interacting with the physical structure of the surface. These structures absorb or scatter light and allow the insects to create aContinue reading “The Light Benders”

Humans Drive Mimicry in Crop Plants

As I’ve always said, plants are dirty, rotten liars. But sometimes, we are the blame for their bad behaviour. One of the first documented examples of plants lying to survive was that of a weedy grass that mimicked wheat. Eventually, we put enough selection pressure on it that it became a fine cereal crop, rye.Continue reading “Humans Drive Mimicry in Crop Plants”

Germs (Pathogens) Pretend to be Part of us

Immunologists and epidemiologists know that disease casusing organisms can make proteins that the body assumes belong to it. They use these forged molecular pass keys on the cellular docking ports that allow hormones and other messengers to regulate body activities. It now looks like their deception has another consequence: the body’s messengers can get caughtContinue reading “Germs (Pathogens) Pretend to be Part of us”