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Article: Snake Camouflage Deters Predators.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- USA TODAY
- Article date:
- June 1, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Society for the Advancement of Education. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Harmless snakes using the colors of dangerous species to protect themselves from predators can successfully get away with this strategy--but only in areas where deadly snakes are found, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Their studies add new weight to the evidence for natural selection.
The researchers focused on predator behavior toward extremely poisonous coral snakes, noted for their ringed markings of red, black, and yellow, or red, black, and white, along with their harmless imitators, the kingsnakes. The theory of Batesian mimicry holds that edible species that look like ...