托福口语 Task 4

Today, we're going to talk about a fascinating concept in biology called 'mimicry'—specifically, how certain animals have evolved to imitate other species or objects to survive. There are two main types: defensive mimicry, where an animal avoids predators by looking like something dangerous or unpalatable, and aggressive mimicry, where an animal disguises itself to lure prey. Let me give you two examples. First, the scarlet king snake. It is harmless, but it has bright red, yellow, and black bands—very similar to the venomous coral snake. Predators learn to avoid the coral snake's colors, so they also avoid the king snake. This is defensive mimicry. Second, consider the anglerfish. It has a fleshy growth on its head that glows and wiggles like a small fish. When prey comes to investigate, the anglerfish snaps it up. This is aggressive mimicry. So, the key point is that mimicry can be used either to hide from enemies or to catch food.