Is biomimicry the answer to more sustainable solutions and relationships?
We live in the Anthropocene, a time that privileges the human experience above all else.
Ecology
Oct 1, 2025
0
20
Page 4: Research news on Biological Mimicry
Biological mimicry is a biological process in which one organism evolves traits that closely resemble those of another organism or environmental feature, thereby altering interactions with predators, prey, hosts, or mutualists. It arises through natural selection acting on heritable variation in phenotypes that confer fitness advantages via deception, such as reduced predation, enhanced pollination, or improved parasitism. Mechanistically, mimicry can involve convergence in morphology, coloration, behavior, chemical signaling, or acoustic patterns, and typically functions within coevolutionary networks. Major forms include Batesian, Müllerian, and aggressive mimicry, each characterized by distinct selective regimes and ecological roles in signal production, perception, and evolutionary stability.
Seal's sensitive whiskers hold key to foiling fish escapes
Life beneath the waves can be a game of cat and mouse. Seals pursue swimming fish by following the tell-tale wakes and spinning vortices they leave behind, sensing the faint swirls with their sensitive whiskers. But fish ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 30, 2025
0
66
First-ever documented case of a plant mimicking ants to attract pollinators
Ko Mochizuki of the University of Tokyo has discovered that Vincetoxicum nakaianum (a dogbane species native to Japan described for the first time by Mochizuki and his collaborators only a year ago) mimics the smell of ants ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 24, 2025
0
470
Videos show how high-speed tongues of salamanders and chameleons are helping unlock engineering breakthroughs
The tongues of chameleons and salamanders might not seem like the inspiration for tomorrow's engineering breakthroughs, but inside the Deban Laboratory at the University of South Florida, biology and engineering are colliding ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 8, 2025
0
234
Jurassic insects with leaf-like wings found alongside their plant models in China
A research team led by Prof. Huang Diying from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) has identified three species of Jurassic orthopterans—an insect group that includes ...
Evolution
Sep 5, 2025
0
288
Spiders use trapped fireflies as glowing bait to attract more prey
Ecologists have observed a species of nocturnal spider attracting prey to its web using the bioluminescent beacons of already trapped fireflies. This rare example of a predator exploiting its prey's mating signal for its ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 28, 2025
0
94
How losing genes made the pygmy seahorse a master of disguise
Pygmy seahorses are remarkable creatures. These tiny marine vertebrates, often no bigger than two centimeters in size, are masters of camouflage, able to match the texture and color of the coral in which they live. Some species ...
Butterflies that look alike, see alike: Research links rainforest light to butterfly vision evolution
Butterflies that independently evolved the same wing patterns have also evolved similar eyes and brains which are fine-tuned for vision in the shifting light of tropical rainforests, according to new research led by the University ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 17, 2025
0
60
Jumping spider's visual trickery can fool AI
Some jumping spiders look so much like wasps that scientists named them for the predatory insects.
Plants & Animals
Jul 16, 2025
0
123
The imitation game: Why some species are better at fooling predators than others
Experts from the University of Nottingham have created life-size 3D-printed insect models to explore how some species trick predators into thinking they're more dangerous than they really are—and avoid being eaten as a result.
Ecology
Jul 2, 2025
0
29
