Dazzled and Deceived: Mimicry and CamouflageNature has perfected the art of deception. Thousands of creatures all over the world - including butterflies, moths, fish, birds, insects and snakes - have honed and practised camouflage over hundreds of millions of years. Imitating other animals or their surroundings, nature's fakers use mimicry to protect themselves, to attract and repel, to bluff and warn, to forage and to hide. The advantages of mimicry are obvious - but how does 'blind' nature do it? And how has humanity learnt to profit from nature's ploys? "Dazzled and Deceived" tells the unique and fascinating story of mimicry and camouflage in science, art, warfare and the natural world. Discovered in the 1850s by the young English naturalists Henry Walter Bates and Alfred Russel Wallace in the Amazonian rainforest, the phenomenon of mimicry was seized upon as the first independent validation of Darwin's theory of natural selection. But mimicry and camouflage also created a huge impact outside the laboratory walls. Peter Forbes' cultural history links mimicry and camouflage to art, literature, military tactics and medical cures across the twentieth century, and charts its intricate involvement with the dispute between evolution and creationism. |
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Contents
2956_Prologuepdf | 1 |
2956_CH01pdf | 6 |
2956_CH02pdf | 31 |
2956_CH03pdf | 43 |
2956_CH04pdf | 57 |
2956_CH05pdf | 71 |
2956_CH06pdf | 85 |
2956_CH07pdf | 101 |
2956_CH11pdf | 170 |
2956_CH12pdf | 182 |
2956_CH13pdf | 197 |
2956_CH14pdf | 207 |
2956_CH15pdf | 221 |
2956_CH16pdf | 235 |
2956_Epilogpdf | 250 |
2956_Notespdf | 256 |
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Common terms and phrases
American animals appearance artist attack Bates became become began believed biology birds British butterflies called camouflage cell Chapter Clarke colour copy Cott course create creatures Darwin dazzle deception developed discovered disruptive dummy effect evolution example experiments fact female flower force Ford genes genetic German going Heliconius human idea insects interest involved Kerr kind known later leaf less letter light living look March means melpomene mimetic mimic mimicry moth mutation Nabokov natural selection naturalists object observed Origin painting patterns plants Poulton predators principles problem produced protection published pupae resemblance Royal scheme Second seemed seen ships single Society species spider story suggested swallowtail Thayer theory things tion trees University variations Wallace warning whole Wilkinson wing wing patterns wrote yellow
Bibliographic information
| Title | Dazzled and Deceived: Mimicry and Camouflage |
| Author | Peter Forbes |
| Edition | unabridged |
| Publisher | Yale University Press, 2011 |
| ISBN | 0300178964, 9780300178968 |
| Length | 304 pages |
| Subjects | › › › Science / Life Sciences / Biological Diversity Science / Life Sciences / Evolution Science / Life Sciences / Zoology / General |
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