Osprey - 11-10-2012 at 08:37 AM
Baja Mimicry
Lots of changes at my house after the big rains. Toads are hopping all over the garden, in the kitchen, in the baño while the big black moths are
everywhere. I suppose the geckos are getting fat on all the very small insects around now.
Just this last week I’ve been seeing a lot of the gecko’s scat around and when I see it, I usually get rid of it. When I reached out to grab the
little black dropping, it flew away. And so did the next one and the next. Then I spied on the patio little bird droppings here and there that defied
capture; just flew away like the gecko stuff. It finally has become obvious to me that Baja is filled with insects which survive by using mimicry, by
assuming the look of animal droppings.
Their great numbers attest to the great success of the adaptation. Also it works so well here because there are so many birds about; enough to make
the mimicry work, enough bird predators to force the insects to perfect the adaptation.
So I guess I’ve learned that here the process works. The insects are thriving in their ingenuity. I feel connected somehow because I too have done
well here. Like these little critters I have avoided and evaded harm and hurt from all the people and circumstances that lurk in the cactus jungle.
Don’t know exactly what or who to thank for my good fortune. You don’t suppose I’ve taken on a certain look, a certain winning appearance, a natural
camouflage like my little cousins flitting about, a thing not worth eating, a thing…. Nah.
The Mr Magoo factor in mimicry
Skipjack Joe - 11-10-2012 at 08:49 AM
I, too, have been seeing more examples of mimicry as I age.
That's especially true when I don't wear my glasses. In fact my latest pair are so well adapted that I'm thinking of switching to black frames.
[Edited on 11-10-2012 by Skipjack Joe]
Udo - 11-10-2012 at 08:54 AM
I will have to learn to adapt to some sort of mimicry she it's my turn to live there.
But as long as Osprey has been in LR, I may be dead before I learn all the minicry that he has learned.
