hawkwings t1_itblfd8 wrote on October 22, 2022 at 11:57 AM

This involves co-evolution where prey and predator evolve together. A caterpillar becomes poisonous and then a certain bird learns to not eat it. The bird may have trouble telling the difference between poisonous and non-poisonous caterpillars. The poisonous one may change color to help the bird tell the difference between the 2. The non-poisonous one uses camouflage while the poisonous one choses a different color which may be a bright color. It doesn't consciously choose a color, but it is easier to understand when I phrase it that way.

MoistMartini t1_itbtrji wrote on October 22, 2022 at 1:17 PM

An additional cool detail that can help understand that this is not a coordinated mechanism but a matter of selection, is that sometimes the non-poisonous/venomous species will evolve to look exactly like a poisonous/venomous one. Plenty of insects that take the color scheme of wasps, for example. This is just because the individuals in a population that most closely resemble a wasp (due to mutations that happen over several generations) are less likely to be eaten by predators that fear wasps and so are more likely to reproduce