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Defence methods of animals
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What do we call an animal that is hunted and killed by predators?
What are Lina’s cats looking for in the garden? It’s a lizard! Oh, the lizard escaped. That was close! Lina’s cats hunt lizards and other small animals.
The cats are PREDATORS and the lizards are their PREY. To survive better, prey animals need ways of defending themselves against the predators. When the lizard saw Lina’s cats, it started running - it changed behaviour. Some other animals also change their behaviour to protect themselves from predators. Meerkats live in groups, and if one sees a predator, for example an eagle, they can warn the other meerkats so that they can hide.
Meerkats and lizards protect themselves with their behaviour. They use a BEHAVIOURAL DEFENCE METHOD. There are many different defence methods, and some of the more interesting ones can be found in tropical forests. But where are all the animals in this forest? Look closer at the tree: something’s moving on the branch!
It’s a leaf-tailed gecko. When it keeps very still on this little tree branch, you can hardly see the difference between them. Its body surface is the same colour and pattern as the branch, and its tail is almost like a leaf. When the body of an animal is so similar to the surroundings in which this animal lives, and the purpose is to make the animal less visible, we call it CAMOUFLAGE. Camouflage is a PHYSICAL DEFENCE METHOD.
Strong colours have the opposite effect of camouflage - they make the animal very visible. But that doesn’t matter if the animal is venomous! This small coral snake seems harmless, but actually it’s very venomous. And its predators will know that because of the black, red and yellow stripes. Strong colours in nature often mean - I’m dangerous!
They show predators it’s better to stay away - they are WARNING SIGNALS, which is also a PHYSICAL DEFENCE METHOD. So the snake has two defence methods - the WARNING colours and venom. Venom is a PHYSIOLOGICAL DEFENCE METHOD. There is one species of snake that looks just like the coral snake, but it doesn’t have any venom. Can you tell the difference between them?
No? If you can’t, the predator birds can’t either! They leave the harmless snakes alone because they think they are dangerous. Because this snake resembles the venomous snake so much, it is called a MIMIC. MIMICRY is also a PHYSICAL DEFENCE METHOD.
Running, living in groups, camouflage, venom and mimicry are the many different ways in which animals can defend themselves. But can the lizard do anything else other than run? The lizard is back in the garden and the cats will see it soon. It will have to be faster to escape this time or maybe, it will drop its tail and trick the cats into thinking they caught it! I wonder which category of -defence mechanisms that would come under.