Check out this fuzzy little fly that has deguised itself as a bumblebee. Mimicry is when one organism like a fly (the mimic) closely resembles another organism like a bumblebee (the model). By imitating the coloration of the bumblebee, the fly is hoping to protect itself by being left alone by potential predators that have learned to avoid the painful sting that can be inflicted by a bumblebee.
It seems like a made up, bedtime story. The kind little fly was fuzzy and soft. She loved to buzz around in the summery sun feeling the warmth on her back. She loved the intoxicating aroma of flowers and their yummy, sweet nectar. She was a happy-go-lucky little bee with a warm-hearted spirit. She wouldn’t hurt a fly. She was smart and observant of the world around her. She was very aware that she was a scrumptious, little morsel and that there were other creatures lurking about that would love to gobble her up. In order to stay safe, she knitted a sweater to wear that mimicked her friend the bumblebee. Her bumblebee friend had a piercing dagger that could inflict a painful sting to protect herself. So she would wear her little sweater when she was out and about to imitate her friend and trick all the carnivorous, nasty-breathed, stinky monsters that wanted to devour her sweetness into thinking she was her friend the powerful bumblebee. She lived happily ever after. The end.
We are constantly experiencing this unknowable force that has and still is imagining and creating life over an incomprehensible vastness of time. It’s so miraculous and unexplainable.
Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I hope to see you out there.