托福口语 Task 4

Today we're going to talk about a fascinating survival strategy in the animal kingdom: mimicry. Now, mimicry isn't just about looking like something else; it's about deceiving predators or prey to gain an advantage. There are many types, but I want to focus on two: protective mimicry and aggressive mimicry. First, protective mimicry. Here, a harmless species imitates a dangerous one to avoid being eaten. Consider the scarlet king snake. It has red, yellow, and black bands, very similar to the venomous coral snake. Predators learn to avoid the coral snake's bright colors, and they also avoid the king snake, even though it's harmless. Second, aggressive mimicry. Here, a predator imitates something attractive to its prey to lure it closer. The anglerfish lives in the deep, dark ocean. It has a fleshy growth on its head that glows and wiggles like a small fish. When smaller fish come to investigate, the anglerfish snaps them up. So, both examples show how mimicry helps animals survive in different ways.