托福口语 Task 4

Today we're going to talk about a fascinating concept in biology called 'mimicry', specifically when an animal evolves to look like another species to gain a survival advantage. There are two main types: Batesian mimicry, where a harmless species imitates a dangerous one to avoid predators, and Müllerian mimicry, where two dangerous species evolve to look alike, reinforcing each other's warning signals. Let me give you two examples. First, consider the scarlet king snake, which is harmless but has red, yellow, and black bands very similar to the deadly coral snake. Predators avoid it because they mistake it for the coral snake. This is Batesian mimicry. Second, think of several species of stinging wasps, like yellow jackets and paper wasps. They all share similar black-and-yellow stripes, so predators learn quickly to avoid all of them after one bad experience. This is Müllerian mimicry, because both species are actually dangerous and benefit from the shared warning pattern.