Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> > One thing I haven't figured out is why poisonous prey animals (frogs,
> > butterflies, etc) wind up being brightly colored.
>
>   AFAIK the bright colors work as a warning signal. Predators learn to
> distinguish the poisonous prey by their color.
>
>   It would make little sense to just have poison but otherwise look edible.
> Both predator and prey get killed. With a warning color both live.
>
>   (By this logic it would follow that some species mimic the color of
> poisonous species. I wonder if there are examples of this.)
>
> --
>                                                           - Warp

The viceroy butterfly mimics the poisonous monarch butterfly for protection from
predators. Its fairly common among many species.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batesian_mimicry

Isaac.

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