Defensive Coloration
Many insects that feed on milkweed plants are brightly colored;
they advertise their poisonous nature using an ecological
strategy known as warning coloration, or aposematic
coloration. Showy coloration is characteristic of
animals that use poisons and stings to repel predators,
while organisms that lack specific chemical defenses are seldom
brightly colored. In fact, many have cryptic coloration—
color that blends with the surroundings and thus
hides the individual from predators (figure 25.10). Camouflaged
animals usually do not live together in groups because
a predator that discovers one individual gains a valuable
clue to the presence of others.