托福口语 Task 4

Today, we're going to talk about a fascinating behavior in the animal kingdom called 'mimicry for protection.' Specifically, I want to discuss how some animals use mimicry not just to blend in, but to actively deceive predators. The main point is that certain species have evolved to imitate dangerous or unpalatable animals, even though they themselves are harmless. This gives them a survival advantage because predators learn to avoid their look-alikes. Let me give you two clear examples. First, the scarlet king snake. It is non-venomous, but it has bright red, yellow, and black bands, very similar to the deadly coral snake. Predators that have encountered a coral snake and survived—or even observed another predator's bad experience—tend to avoid anything with that pattern. So the king snake benefits from this false warning. Second, consider the hoverfly. It looks like a wasp with black and yellow stripes and a similar body shape, but it has no stinger. Birds that have been stung by a wasp will usually avoid hoverflies, thinking they are wasps. In both cases, the harmless species gains protection by mimicking a dangerous one.