Baby Birds Mimic Toxic Caterpillars to Fool Predators

Sarah Benton Feitlinger
Fri, 30 Jan 2015 12:09:32 -0800

Animals adapt in various ways to protect themselves from predators. Some take on the smell of the food they consume, while others build decoys. But very few are able to do what the cinereous mourner that resides in the Peruvian Amazon rainforests has done. This dull gray bird has evolved such that its chicks not only closely resemble a brightly colored toxic neighbor, but also act like it!