It’s tough out there for small animals. Other animals are always trying to eat them, so they have to use tactics like blending in or being toxic to stay alive. These 5 animals, however, take self-preservation to a whole new level, and disguise themselves as… bird poop.
Hosted by: Stefan Chin
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Sources:
General
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/group/poison-dart-frogs/
https://phys.org/news/2018-10-elucidating-cuttlefish-camouflage.html
https://www.pnas.org/content/108/16/6532.short
https://www.audubon.org/news/what-makes-bird-poop-white
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007s10336-019-01692-5
https://australianmuseum.net.au/blog-archive/amri-news/amri-bird-poo-frogs-more-species/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282246084_Theloderma_asperum_Hill_garden_Bug-eyed_frog_Defensive_behavior
https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2015-10-12-how-plants-dupe-dung-beetles-into-burying-their-seeds
https://www.nature.com/articles/nplants2015141
Potter wasps
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03946975.2015.1027103
https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Potter-Wasp
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0085-56262013005000044&script=sci_arttext
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-30_potter_wasp_eumenes.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter_wasp
Orb web spiders
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/spider-web-spun-look-bird-poop-180951589/
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep05058
Caterpillars
https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Giant-Swallowtail-Butterfly
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/citrus/giantswallowtail.htm
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347215001463
Bird-dung crab spiders
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28124-zoologger-a-spider-that-looks-and-smells-like-bird-droppings/
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12177
http://gb.oversea.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?filename=1016047741.nh&dbcode=CMFD&dbname=CMFDTEMP
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/asjaa1936/48/1/48_1_71/_pdf
http://www.chanel-00.com/lib_/Qikan/Article/Detailid665129207&prev=search
Macrocilix maia
https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/art-hiding
http://www.myrmecos.net/2011/08/30/a-mural-on-moth-wings/
Image Sources:
https://figshare.com/articles/Bird_dropping_masquerading_of_the_nest_by_the_potter_wasp_i_Minixi_suffusum_i_Fox_1899_Hymenoptera_Vespidae_Eumeninae_/1400491
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Potters_Wasp_Nests.jpg
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/15520576
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Papilio_cresphontes_larva_defensive.JPG
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyclosa_ginnaga_()_(15009463214).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyclosa.ginnaga.male.1.-.tanikawa.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:_(Cyclosa_ginnaga)_(15508045951).jpg
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16148293
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20873833
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20873892
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/31044535
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phrynarachne_ceylonica_(37664885586).jpg
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19818462
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macrocilix_maia.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macrocilix_maia_(23481819553).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macrocilix_maia_(34360241635).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A43-20170426-137_(34909531601).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sarcophagid_fly_Portrait.jpg
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19568181
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19568175
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theloderma_asperum.png
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