In the natural world, one of the most complex and striking behaviors is Mullein mimicry. This feature does not occur in all species, but it allows you to see how complex the world of animals and plants is.
Mullein mimicry consists of a species changing its colors and physiognomy, to try to resemble another different species. The main purpose of this function is survival, since being mistaken for another species can give you advantages when it comes to survival.
This mimicry exists due to natural selection, which has allowed animals capable of it to outlive those that cannot. As Darwin said, the fittest animal always survives.
There are many forms of manifestation of this mimicry, but they all have in common that they make you look like an animal that you are not. For example, some animals pretend to be predators, so that you leave them alone, something that works very well for them.
However, mimicry is much more complex than that, since we can even see plants posing as animals to achieve survival. The manifestation of this type of mimicry is a mystery to many people, who are unaware of its existence.
Moreover, you may have seen a yellow plant and thought there was a bee, but there was not. You may have seen a yellow and black fly and thought it was a wasp, when it wasn’t.
Be that as it may, don’t worry, since we are going to explain to you what this Mullein mimicry is like in animals, so you can see how it works.
Instructions for mullein mimicry in animals
- Insects: The first ones that very often carry out Mullein mimicry are insects, since they are a very large group. but it can also suffer from some problems, for which it needs to reinforce its survival in some way. In this case, there is a group of flies that is the best example we can give, which are called hoverflies. These flies adopt yellow and black colors, in order to make other species believe that they are bees or wasps. Although flies are not predators, bees are, so by adopting the color of a predator, flies keep other species from attacking, for fear of being attacked by a real bee or wasp. This is done by other species of insects, including some beetles, which, by adopting these colors, manage to perfectly pass themselves off as predatory insects, thus guaranteeing greater survival of the species. The proof that this works, we are the humans, since when we see some insect using mullein mimicry; we usually do not realize what they really are. For this reason, many people will not approach the camouflaged fly or beetle for fear of a sting, prolonging the animal’s survival.
- Plants: Although sometimes we forget, plants are living beings, which, although they do not have the complexity of an animal, do carry out some actions to guarantee their survival. The best known case is that of the orchid, a plant that has flowers the color of female bees. In this way, the bumblebees will go to fertilize the plant, believing that it is a female, taking the pollen with them and thus ensuring that the plant is fertilized, guaranteeing its survival. This is proof that plants are more complex than they seem, since they also carry out their own survival actions, with the main objective of surviving and ensuring the survival of their species.
- Not to be confused with camouflage: Mullein mimicry is something that occurs in nature, but many people do not know exactly what it is. A very common mistake, which you should avoid, is to confuse mimicry with camouflage. since it is not the same, although it is similar. While mimicry is impersonating another species, camouflage is simply changing color, to blend in with its surroundings. The main similarity is that both are special survival techniques, which allow animals and plants to survive. Moreover, natural selection has made animals and plants with mimicry and camouflage survive, while those that did not have these characteristics became extinct. However, the difference is that camouflage is used so that you are not discovered, while, in mimicry, they do discover you, but they do not know what you are and they confuse you with another person. Making a comparison with human beings, if you put on a black suit and go into the dark, it would be camouflage. Instead, if you put on a mask to make it look like you’re someone else, it’s mimicry. For this reason, they are different concepts that, although they look a bit similar, are not the same.
