Previously:
Convergence
Stupid Design
Weird Evolution
The Axolotl
Mutual Symbiosis
Parasitic Symbiosis Part 1
Parasitic Symbiosis Part 2
Parasitism is full of trickery and deception. Whatever it takes to spread one’s seed, right? But not all deception in nature is used for this purpose. Not all tricksters are sucking the life out of another being in the most gruesome way possible.
Some tricksters are beautiful, some are simply being defensive, and others even deceive their own kind in order to get a selfish advantage. Using Sight, sound, texture; no ideas go to waste in the natural world. Let’s take a look:
Tactical Deception
There are some animals that commit very human crimes; a reminder of what we are. Everything we do is just another version of what nature came up with millions of years before we even existed.
Social animals have evolved specialized brain functions to deceive each other. These cheats take a risk, for if they're caught it could lead to considerable fighting, but the reward means there will always be one or two cheats in any animal group.
Mourning Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish are fantastic social creatures in their own right, but with fierce competition among males, something snide has to be done to gain advantage.
A male will sometimes split his body camouflage in two, appearing as a male on the side of his body facing a female, and appearing as a female on the side facing the male. This means he can infiltrate territory of a rival cuttlefish and woo his women without the rival even noticing... About 50% of the time, anyway.
Some males, disguised as females, even sneak in the midst of a mating session and sneakily slip his tentacle into the female, right underneath the mating male. Resounding proof that you don't need to be strong to survive, it's all about brains. And long tentacles.
Koko
Chimps, baboons and other old-world monkeys all do it too, including:
- Sounding predator warning signals so others flee, giving it sole access to food
- A stare behind the back of an aggressor, as if a predator is behind, allowing a quick escape
- The recruitment of a monkey friend, or 'fall guy', to draw the attention of an aggressor
- Tactically leading a group away from nice sources of food when on the move
Sexual Deception
Brains aren't totally necessary though, which is good news if you're a plant. Not that you'd know what good news is, being a plant and all.
Orchid
The Orchid is the ultimate trickster of the plant kingdom.
Here we have the 'Laughing bee orchid'
To us humans, this looks like a rather jolly jelly bean, but to a bee, who sees things somewhat differently to us, this orchid has the shape and colour of of female bee.
But why does a plant want a bee dry-humping its flower? Quite simply, rolling around in the orchid's petals ensures a healthy dose of pollen sticking onto the bee's hairy body, which will cross the field to another flower.
Scientists have noted a higher pollen transport efficiency rate among sexually deceptive orchids, even compared to others that are open to multiple pollinators.
Mimicry orchids are one of the most widespread and diverse plants on the planet:
Hunting deception
Naturally, in an arms race the size of a planet, the hunters get in on evolutionary tools of the trade, too.
Alligator Snapping Turtle.
This terrifying turtle has a tongue that can mimic the appearance and movement of a worm. When a bird sees it and attempts to take it, its fate is sealed in the belly of the turtle.
Orchid...mantis?
Flowers are not typ- wait, that's not a flower, is it? Ahhh no! It is in fact a rather beautiful praying mantis, specifically and aptly named, the 'orchid mantis'. Playing at the orchid's own game, this mantis has the element of disguise down to a mastery. All it needs to do is sit around on contrasting colours and wait for a stupid bee or whatever to try and grab some nectar, and that's today's meal sorted.
Margay
Margays are a wonderfully bug-eyed species of feline, but are really quite the assholes. This cat has learnt to make the call of a crying baby monkey. The family monkeys go wild and go straight to the source to the rescue, right into the margay's mouth. fantastic.
Assassin Bug
Onto the complete opposite of cute, the assassin bug is one of the most terrifying creatures evolution has come up with. This needs a full image to fully appreciate:
Yes, this assassin bug is wearing ant corpses on its back, like a pile of trophy kills. It actually acts as a form of defense - like it even needs it - by confusing bigger spiders and other predators.
Assassin bugs also have a clever trick to even get at spiders. It plucks at a cobwebs and hides, waiting for the spider to investigate. When it arrives, the assassin leaps in and death follows for the poor spider.
Defensive Deception
From tails dropping off to fluffing up your fur coat to appear bigger and scarier than you really are, to active camouflage, if an animal is prey to something, it'll often have a clever mechanism to get out of sticky situations. But some take it a little further than the rest.
Virginia Opossum
This creature is so effective at feigning death, that the phrase 'playing possum' originates from observing them. Interestingly, it's an entirely involuntary action.
When adequately threatened, the opossum will fall into a coma. Its arse leeks out a putrid green substance which is sure to repel predators. The opossums heart and breathing slows but is otherwise fully conscious, however it cannot move for a good few hours; you can actually pick one up in this state without affecting its comatose state.
Octopus
One of the greatest masters of disguise is seriously underappreciated; the Octopus. This sea creature is so adept at disguise that no animal even comes to a close second place by comparison:
Not only does this animal have the ability to rapidly change colour to perfectly copy its surroundings, but it even changes the shape and texture of its body.
The mimic octopus takes this a step further, re-shaping its body to copy the appearance of a whole variety of animals, from poisonous fish and snakes, to deadly flatfish and even freakish turkeys with human legs running across the sea floor. Sounds like a joke, but it ain't.
There are literally thousands more examples of deception in nature for a variety of reasons. Go out in the world and explore them for yourself! Or maybe I'll make a second part at a later date for you to enjoy. Thanks for reading!
Sources:
Cuttlefish
Koko
Orchids
Orchids 2
Alligator Snapping Turtle
Orchid Mantis
Margay
Assassin Bgg
Opossum
Mimic Octopus
