Deception in the Animal World: Spider builds life-sized decoys
There is a species of spider that builds models of itself, which it uses as decoys to distract predators.
The spider may be the first example of an animal building a life-size replica of its own body.
So believe the scientists who made the discovery, which is published in the journal Animal Behaviour.
The arachnid's behaviour also offers one explanation for why many spiders like to decorate their webs with strange-looking ornaments.
Many animals try to divert the attentions of predators by becoming masters of disguise.
Some try to avoid being seen altogether by using camouflage to blend in against a background, such as the peppered moth evolving motley wings that blend into tree bark, or stick insects that look like sticks.
Others evolve more conspicuous ornaments designed to distract a predator, such as butterflies that grow large eyespots or lizards that quickly move colourful tails, which they detach from their bodies if grabbed.
This latter strategy has puzzled biologists, because attracting predators in the first place is usually a bad idea.
One hypothesis is that animals which grow conspicuous ornaments benefit overall, because directing a predator to attack an expendable part of the body, such as the lizard's tail, outweighs the costs of attracting the attention of the predator in the first place.
----------------more at the link
This reminds me of how you will see a police car on the edge of a town in the USA taking radar, only to discover that its really a billboard or mocked car and mannequin dressed as a police officer!
Or, the country that hints it has nukes and really doesn't-like what Saddam confessed to an FBI agent before being hanged (or is it 'hung'?). (he confessed his weapons of mass destruction was a ruse to make Iran think twice about attacking him)
So, survival in its fittest means you have to make yourself look bigger (blow fish, etc), or that you are not even there (lizards, etc). Maybe we can start a country that is invisible and not worry about someone coming in and taking our natural resources, or hating us because our lifestyle is different. or, our skin color is not the same. Or that their religion says that our land was really meant for someone else. We can remain anonymous and invisible and no one will bother us.
The spider may be the first example of an animal building a life-size replica of its own body.
So believe the scientists who made the discovery, which is published in the journal Animal Behaviour.
The arachnid's behaviour also offers one explanation for why many spiders like to decorate their webs with strange-looking ornaments.
Many animals try to divert the attentions of predators by becoming masters of disguise.
Some try to avoid being seen altogether by using camouflage to blend in against a background, such as the peppered moth evolving motley wings that blend into tree bark, or stick insects that look like sticks.
Others evolve more conspicuous ornaments designed to distract a predator, such as butterflies that grow large eyespots or lizards that quickly move colourful tails, which they detach from their bodies if grabbed.
This latter strategy has puzzled biologists, because attracting predators in the first place is usually a bad idea.
One hypothesis is that animals which grow conspicuous ornaments benefit overall, because directing a predator to attack an expendable part of the body, such as the lizard's tail, outweighs the costs of attracting the attention of the predator in the first place.
----------------more at the link
This reminds me of how you will see a police car on the edge of a town in the USA taking radar, only to discover that its really a billboard or mocked car and mannequin dressed as a police officer!
Or, the country that hints it has nukes and really doesn't-like what Saddam confessed to an FBI agent before being hanged (or is it 'hung'?). (he confessed his weapons of mass destruction was a ruse to make Iran think twice about attacking him)
So, survival in its fittest means you have to make yourself look bigger (blow fish, etc), or that you are not even there (lizards, etc). Maybe we can start a country that is invisible and not worry about someone coming in and taking our natural resources, or hating us because our lifestyle is different. or, our skin color is not the same. Or that their religion says that our land was really meant for someone else. We can remain anonymous and invisible and no one will bother us.
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Heres what a spider does after it does pot-pretty interesting!
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I'm lost for words !
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- Highr0ller
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