#mimicposting

[recordingsurface]

a previous version of someone is laying, dismembered, partial, and half decaying, splayed on cool blue tiles of the subway floor. they took what they wanted, discarded the rest, and I, the mimic, see my chance. a thing to be is here presented, red adornments hung from its torn edges, with split white bone protruding where it may. pulled to pool in small alcove, the taste I take confirms my nose in allegations of sumptuous viscera half-spoil'd. slipping in like all the priors, testing all the minute fibers, this one will serve me nicely for a while. and so i board the subway car, now adorned with foreign scars, manners thieve'd, thoughts surging, not all mine. I live out lives with stolen stumble, someone else’s moves and mumbles, in seas of people struggling to be seen.

and I'm going to have to be ok with that, I guess

[animal-forgeries]

today's mimic: zone-tailed hawk, buteo albonotatus

the zone-tailed hawk has been suggested to mimic turkey vultures, most obviously in their flight pattern: the hawks fly unusually with wings raised dihedrally, and will rock back and forth in a similar manner to turkey vultures. additionally, the silhouette and the shape of the flight feathers resemble a turkey vulture much more than other similar hawks. this is an example of aggressive mimicry, since turkey vultures rarely hunt animals, while the zone-tailed hawk is an active predator. its prey will be more likely to ignore the presence of the bird, believing it to be a harmless scavenger. the kettling behaviour of turkey vultures aids the zone-tailed hawk, as it can blend into large gatherings of vultures. although up close the two animals are very different, even experienced birders may have difficulty identifying a zone-tailed hawk from its deceitful silhouette and flight pattern.

model:

photo by roy lowe

flight pattern comparison:

[lovelymimic]

It's probably for the best that most mimics are quite territorial. In those rare instances where large numbers of mimics are able to get along in close proximity, they eventually start to outnumber regular, inanimate objects, and invariably begin to mimic each other. It can be amusing to see the results of mimics mimicking mimics, their impressions of impressions resembling the original objects less and less. However, when that many mimics are that at ease with each other's presences, and blending in that poorly, they often start to resort to more active, creative, and cooperative means of capturing prey.

[vitacarnismimic]

OFC I POST AND DARIAN POSTS TO ITS JUST FATE HES WATCHING

[poppetsisters]

What if you were able to tell mimics apart because they have the same visual flaws as AI art?

The light source on the metal parts are all wrong! The design is unnaturally asymmetrical! I’m not even really sure what I’m looking at!!

[tomandjerrysdivorcelawyer]

Mimic that is the big comfy couch from that one show

[rvengefulobster]

The first 30 minutes of Prey in a nutshell.

[animal-forgeries]

today's mimic: mimic poison frog, ranitomeya imitator

photo by john clare

the mimic poison frog, also known as the poison arrow frog or imitating poison frog, is notable for having many colour morphs that allow it to mimic multiple different species. the four different mimicking morphs are:

'varadero', which mimics the red-headed poison frog, ranitomeya fantastica

'striped', which mimics the lowland zimmerman's poison frog, ranitomeya variabilis

'spotted', which mimics the highland zimmerman's poison frog, ranitomeya variabilis

and 'banded', which mimics the summers' poison frog, ranitomeya summersi

the mimicry is used defensively, as this species, while toxic, is much less so than the species it mimics.

comparisons:

(comparisons created by me, images source here)