News in Brief Animals

Shimmer and shine may help prey sabotage predators’ aim

Computer game for birds shows the confusing side of iridescent coloring

a greenbottle fly

SHIMMER FOR SAFETY  That lovely iridescence on a greenbottle fly and myriad other animals might offer a bit of protection from predators.

Charles R Berenguer Jr/iNaturalist.org (CC BY-NC)

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

A peck-the-bug computer game for quail shows that some of nature’s most spectacular coloring might be peacock obvious to the eye but tricky for a predator to grab.