About the Author

Ross Cheshire

Contributor

Ross was born and raised in Durban, spending many a family holiday in the northern parts of KwaZulu Natal. It is here that his love and passion for the African Bush developed. He decided to combine his love of working with people and ...

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13 Comments

on The Magic of Mimicry

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Babs Putar
Explorer

The survival instinct no matter what the size of the creatures are is amazing.

Denise Vouri
Guest contributor

Truly fascinating Ross – just goes to show that mimicry within the animal kingdom can be essential for survival. The most interesting fact presented for me is how the Drongo can imitate so many other birds, in order to secure an easy meal!

Gawie Jordaan
Master Tracker

Fascinating! Do you think possible predators can adjust (“get smarter”) in their strategy for obtaining food? Or do they just inherently avoid at all costs?

Francesca Doria
Master Tracker

Hi, drongo also exhibit foraging mutualism trough convolution of interspecific sentinel signals with weavers. Definitely very smart and interesting birds! Butterflies and moths are masters of mimicry, the pictures you show here are absolutely fantastic!

Valmai Vorster
Master Tracker

Ross we have the fork tailed Drongo here by us and I have heard that it makes different sounds. Nature is something to appreciate at all times. Thanks for explaining the mimicry, now we can understand why they do it. Pansy butterflies are stunning.

Dave Mills
Senior Digital Ranger

Nice job, Ross.

Vin Beni
Guest contributor

The pansy butterfly is stunning!
Nature–always adapting for survival!

Michael and Terri Klauber
Guest contributor

Ross, Thanks for a really interesting blog! We were not aware of the broad use of Mimicry!

William Paynter
Master Tracker

Ross, it is all about survival.. Anything that works or can be used to avoid death will be incorporated into any species over time. Nature is truly fantastic when we stop and study. Thanks for the details and information on the birds and butterflies.

Christa Blessing
Master Tracker

A very interesting blog, Ross. The pictures are wonderful.

Leonie De Young
Master Tracker

A reallt interesting blog Ross and the pics are excellent. Really enjoyed reading it. You have some absolutely beautiful animals, birds and butterflies in Africa. Thanks for sharing.

Alex McMillan
Senior Digital Ranger

Am I right that drongos will also mimic not only birds but other animals, for instance making a dwarf mongoose alarm call to get the mongoose to drop its catch and run away? Fascinating to think how this behaviour would have evolved, presumably through trial and error at first and then perhaps handed down from parent to young?

Paul Canales
Master Tracker

Super interesting Ross! This information, along with the past few blogs, really demonstrate the brilliance of nature to survive and thrive is crazy adverse environments!

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