托福口语 Task 4

Today we're going to talk about a fascinating survival strategy in the animal kingdom: mimicry. Specifically, I want to focus on two types of mimicry that help prey avoid predators. The first is called Batesian mimicry, where a harmless species evolves to look like a dangerous one. For example, the scarlet king snake, which is non-venomous, has developed red, yellow, and black bands very similar to the highly venomous coral snake. Predators that have learned to avoid coral snakes also avoid the king snake, even though it's harmless. The second type is Müllerian mimicry, where two or more dangerous species evolve to look alike. This reduces the number of individuals each species loses to predators learning to avoid them. A classic example is the monarch and viceroy butterflies. Both are toxic to birds because they feed on milkweed as caterpillars. Their similar orange and black patterns reinforce the message 'I taste bad', so predators learn to avoid them faster. So, the main point is that mimicry can arise either by deceiving predators or by cooperating with other species for mutual protection.