托福口语 Task 4

Today, we're going to talk about a fascinating concept in biology called 'mimicry,' specifically when a harmless species evolves to resemble a dangerous one. This is known as Batesian mimicry. The main idea is that the harmless species gains protection from predators because predators learn to avoid the dangerous species and then mistakenly avoid the harmless look-alike. Let me give you two examples. First, consider the scarlet king snake. It is non-venomous, but it has bright red, yellow, and black bands very similar to the venomous coral snake. Predators like birds avoid the coral snake after a bad experience, and they also avoid the king snake because it looks the same. Second, think about certain moths. Some harmless moths have wing patterns that resemble the eyes of larger predators, like owls. When a bird approaches, the moth flashes its wings, and the bird, thinking it sees an owl’s face, flees. In both cases, the harmless species survives because predators mistake them for something dangerous.