Camouflage or caution? How anti-predator strategies have evolved

Predators and the environment determine why some animals use camouflage to avoid being eaten, while others use bright colors to warn them, reveals new research. Published today in the journal ScienceThe results help to explain the evolution and global distribution of the most common color strategies used by insects to avoid predators.

The global study took place on six continents and involved more than 50 scientific employees.

Using the same experience, researchers have deployed more than 15,000 artificial prey with three different colors to study the strategy that works best to dissuade predators: a classic warning model of orange and black, a dull brown that mixes and an unusual bright blue and black.

The main author of the study, Dr. Iliana Medina Guzman of the University of Melbourne, said that the response to the reason why some animals use camouflage on warning colors to dissuade predators have proven to be more complex than expected.

“Our results have shown that there is no better color strategy to dissuade predators, but this context is essential,” said Dr. Medina Guzman, of the Bioscience School.

“The different characteristics of predatory communities and prey, as well as habitat in this part of the globe, strongly decide which strategy works better in each place.

“This makes sense when we see animals using so many variable camouflage and warning strategies as defense systems all over the world.”

The predators had the greatest influence on which the color strategy was the most successful for prey, revealed the study.

“In environments where predators are intensely competing for food, they are more likely to risk attacking prey that could be dangerous or unpleasant. Therefore, we have seen that camouflage worked best in areas with a lot of predation,” said Dr. Medina Guzman.

“While, in places where cryptic prey (insects that use camouflage) are abundant, hiding place becomes less effective, because predators are better to search for these types of animals.”

The results help scientists understand why certain species, such as cryptic bogong or the bug of the bright colors, have evolved their strategies against predators.

Dr. William Allen, an evolutionary environmentalist at Swansea University, in the United Kingdom, was the main research author.

“For a long time, scientists wondered why some animals use a defense strategy on the other and our study throws important information on how animal communities and the environment influence this,” said Dr. Allen.

“We hope that our results will be able to help better understand the evolution and global distribution of the most common anti -repudative colored strategies in animals.”