Mimicry
Greetings and salutations my feral friends! Today I’d like to tell you a bit about something called ‘’Mimicry’’.
Throughout every aspect of nature, survival is of the utmost importance to any living being, and what aids an organism in that quest is camouflage! After all, you cannot be harmed if you cannot be found.
To illustrate I’d like to show you some pictures I took the other day in Mugmire Marsh:
These are a Pondlily, and an Octovenom (backside) respectively. Side by side the differences between these two organisms are quite evident, but from afar the mimicry of this duo has most certainly fooled my eyes when swimming though the lake, Ho Ho! The antennae-like protrusions on the Octovenom’s head look quite like the shape of the Pondlilly’s pistil, and the creature’s tentacles are clustered together as if to imitate roots.
In this example it is most likely an anti-predator adaptation; the Octovenom have adapted to look like the Pondlilies to protect themselves from predators! Understandable, I’d say. These tentacled troublemakers are quite sought-after for their precious purple ink, and are a beloved foodstuff among the Myrefolk.
Another possibility is that the Octovenom uses its clever disguise to hide between the Pondlilies so it can attack unsuspecting prey. Truly a marvel of nature!
Enthusiastically, Curio the explorer