When predators seek to happen upon at a moving lizard , the vivid stripes on its head and torso airt the piranha ’s attending to the reptile ’s buns – the expendable part . The determination are published inRoyal Society give Sciencethis week .
There are various reasons why prey species would have conspicuous colors and pattern , even though these make them more visible to predator . Zebra stripes , for exemplar , might serve as a conformation of anti - predation tactic called “ motion dazzle . ” During movement , highly contrast patterns interfere with a predator ’s power to precisely estimate the speed or trajectory of the quarry – which thin out the likeliness of successfully capturing a meal . Many lizard have contrastingly colored stripes that fly the coop parallel to the body and in the same direction as the animal ’s gesture . But whether or not these so - visit longitudinal stripe play an anti - predator subroutine remained a mystery .
Gopal Murali and Ullasa Kodandaramaiah from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research get up with a new hypothesis : Through the gesture dazzle effect , stripes along the vital anterior organic structure parts redirect attacks towards non - vital posterior parts , such as the derriere . For lizards like the skink above , the backside is less vulnerable , particularly since it can be regenerated . In fact , they ’re known to dribble their after part as an escape mechanics when jeopardize by predator .
To test their hypothesis , the duo recruited 155 people to “ set on ” practical lizards on a touch screen estimator . The orthogonal prey propel across the screen at an mean swiftness of 17 centimeters ( 6.7 inch ) per secondly , and they either had black - and - white stripe or irregularly streak white patterns on solid total darkness .
The team found that prey with longitudinal stripes on the front half suffered fewer deadly attacks : They were stumble more in the back half . Then , by employing “ psychophysical ” techniques , the team demonstrated that prey with striped patterning were perceived by the participant to be prompt slower than they really were – which might explicate how the redirective effect work .
