[featured image] The paussine beetles (see scoundrels – #6) are very good at mimicking the odour of ants in order to run amok in the nests of their hosts, gorging themselves on eggs, larvae and pupae. This is the sort of behaviour we’ve come to expect from ground beetles, the …
[featured image] Most animals are content with mimicking one species or a group of species, indeed that’s all they can do because their ruses are based on the way they look. However, there is one animal that’s a master of many disguises – the mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus), which is …
[featured image] As we’ve seen with the ant-mimicking spiders (see scoundrels – #8), the imitation of ants is often very elaborate because …
[featured image] Some predators found hunting to be something of a real chore, so over the eons they evolved means of getting …
[featured image] Ants are pretty mean animals. They bite, some of them sting and individuals from the same nest can co-ordinate their …
[featured image] Not content with pretending to be other animals, some insects have taken to mimicking inanimate objects, namely various parts of …
[featured image] Nature is full deception. There are loads of animals that live their life by pretending to be something else. Over …
[featured image] Let’s start this post with a picture: What’s going on here? Some photoshop jiggery-pokery? An amphibian version of Russian dolls? …
[featured image] Spider-hunting wasps, technically known as pompilids are about as mean as insects come. They range in size from no more …
[featured image] If you thought the fat innkeeper had a raw deal (see my last post), then consider the fish in the …