A new display in DZG’s Discovery Centre highlights nature’s masters of disguise.
Tricksters reveals how different species use camouflage, mimicry and bluff to protect themselves from their enemies in the wild. Presenter Langan Turner said: “In the natural world, hide and seek is literally a matter of life or death, and the new presentation features animals that have to be masters of disguise in order to survive.” Two non-venomous milk snakes pretend to be dangerous by copying the colour of lethal coral snakes, while a pair of Grenada stick insects show how they have become well-practised mimics. At six inches long they are among the largest insects on earth. Langan said:?”Camouflage allows an animal to blend in with its surroundings, while mimics are shaped like another object, as in the aptly-named stick insects.”
CAPTIONS: Presenter Langan Turner with the pair of Grenada stick insects that are part of the new Tricksters display.