Iridescence Helps Animals Evade Predators

[She-ra]

Iridescent creatures — such as dragonflies, catfish and boa constrictors — often dazzle onlookers with their shimmering colors. These alluring, luminescent hues may be key to an animal's survival, helping it to confuse and escape from predators looking for a meal, a new study finds.

Read more here: http://www.livescience.com/50616-iridescent-animals-confuse-predators.html

Additional article and photos here: http://www.livescience.com/50604-photos-iridescent-animals.html

It's unclear why so many species sport iridescence colors, but a new study suggests that these shimmering shades may help animals confuse and escape from predators. To test this idea, a researcher trained quails to peck at virtual bugs on a touchscreen. The quails quickly learned how to nab the black bugs, but they had more trouble with the iridescent virtual bugs, the study found.

WOW! Some of the most beautiful creatures I have seen in a long time

[Sundew]

If you are ever in South or Central America or north into parts of Mexico (Cozumel for example) you may be lucky enough to see the common Morpho Butterfly, a very large species with dark brown underwings and iridescent blue above. Rarely landing and usually only with their wings closed they appear as flashes of blue light as they fly through the jungle. The interesting thing is that they possess no blue pigment at all, the blue is caused a particularly sized microscopic structures that only reflect blue light, the coloration also varies at the angle to the viewer. Some species also appear pink when viewed in one direction and blue when viewed in another. This is not unique to Morpho, in North America we have the much smaller Blues and Hairstreak Butterflies (blue or purple iridescence), in Australia they have the Ulysses Swallowtail (blue), in Borneo Rajah Brook's Birdwing (green iridescence) and there are many others. There are even a few plants that have blue iridescence like Bigonia pavonina.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Sundew