several unrelated but protected
animal species come to resemble one another (figure
25.12b). If animals that resemble one another are all poisonous
or dangerous, they gain an advantage because a predator
will learn more quickly to avoid them. In some cases,
predator populations even evolve an innate avoidance of
species; such evolution may occur more quickly when multiple
dangerous prey look alike.
In both Batesian and Müllerian mimicry, mimic and
model must not only look alike but also act alike if predators
are to be deceived. For example, the members of several
families of insects that closely resemble wasps behave
surprisingly like the wasps they mimic, flying often and actively
from place to place.