Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Dear Expert,

if you pick this experiment (candy camouflage).
Can you ask the question: “How does mimicry help prey survive?”

Can this specific experiment answer this question?

I'm not sure about it.
Thank you in advance for your support.

Here is the link to the project we would like to work with:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... camouflage

Hello Cado,

It sounds like a really interesting experiment about natural adaptation. As I read through the information and the design of the experiment, I find that the later part of the experiment, especially the table 2 which collects data in terms of poisonous animals, helps answer your question about whether mimicry helps prey survive.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions!

Hello!

You can definitely ask the question "how does mimicry help the prey survive?" The experiment is about determining if predators (in this case, people who like M&Ms) will choose to eat a prey that is camouflaged or not. For example, the M&Ms that are similar in color to the skittles could be eaten less because it is harder to distinguish between them (so it is easier to eat other colored M&Ms).

Hope this helps!