Oh My -- Rosa is spreading it deep this time!!!
A really great paper entitled: "Bent posture improves the protective value of bird dropping masquerading by caterpillars" highlights the fact that mimicry extends beyond an organism merely resembling something that it is not, and it's got Rosa talking shit.
From the paper:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347215001463
"Masquerade describes a defense by animals that have evolved to closely
resemble inedible objects such as twigs, stones or bird droppings.
Animals that masquerade often match their models in size or shape, and
may even adopt specific postures in order to enhance their resemblance,
causing predators to misclassify them as their model objects. The
caterpillars of some moth species resemble bird droppings, and bend
their bodies while resting on branches or leaves. We hypothesized that
such bending might enhance the caterpillars' resemblance to real bird
droppings. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by pinning
artificial caterpillars with green or bird dropping coloration onto tree
branches in both straight and bent postures, after which we exposed
them to bird predation in the wild. We found that the adoption of a bent
posture resulted in a lower attack rate by birds on the artificial
caterpillars with the bird dropping coloration, while green caterpillars
experienced no benefit from the same treatment. This study is the first
experimental demonstration of the protective value of a specific
posture in masquerading prey, and highlights the importance of
considering an organism's shape and posture in the study of masquerade."
..and now, here is what Rosa got out of it:
"So, we have a species which is a member of an ancient order - moths
probably split off from other insects about 190 million years ago -
masquerading as the droppings of an order which only evolved much more
recently. It doesn't take a genius to recognise that there would have
been no benefit in resembling a bird dropping before there were birds.
Not only would it not deter birds from eating the caterpillars but it
wouldn't deter anything else either. In fact, it wouldn't have been a
case of cryptic mimicry or any other sort of mimicry. It would have
been a complete waste of time.
So, any creationists or 'Intelligent Design' hoax dupes willing to have a
go at explaining why an intelligent designer would have designed a moth
caterpillar to resemble a bird dropping several tens of millions of
years before there were birds? Or did it change it's mind later when it
realised it had just designed birds and so changed the caterpillar?"
Is this person mentally retarded?
No, seriously -- it's an honest question.
