Friday Fun: Pick a Predator to Mimic

I get the biggest charge out of Ask Doc Paranormal. He posts the most hilarious stories. Yet, they are also quite thought provoking.

I finally got caught up on my blog reading and found a great one he’d posted a couple of weeks ago: “Tiny Insect Scares Predators Away By Impersonating Deadly Crocodile.”

Because it’s short, I’m just going to post it in its entirety here.

Animal mimicry is a biological phenomenon in which one animal takes on a form similar to another, biologically dissimilar creature. The mimicry is usually performed by a smaller, weaker animal in the hope of scaring away a predator.

One brave “bogey,” as such mimics are called, takes the charade to a gutsy extreme. The nervy imitator is an insect of the genus Fulgora. This tiny bug has an appendage on the front of its head that resembles the snout of the South American crocodile, or caiman. Scientists have found that birds and monkeys that would otherwise devour the bug are scared off by its fearsome appearance.

Posted By Doc Paranormal

On Monday I posted a link to it on the HJ Facebook Fan Page with the question: If you could scare predators away by impersonating something else, what would you mimic?

I’ve been thinking about it all week. I’d like to have the ability to adapt my mimicry to the situation.

For instance, I’m short (or “Fun Size” as I like to say). When I’m playing volleyball I’d like to have the ability to intimidate opponents at the net by becoming something like one of the dinos in Jurassic Park. I don’t know it’s name, but specifically that small one that looked pretty harmless, but then all of a sudden this cone sprung out and encircled its neck, making it appear much larger and more fierce.

That’d be pretty cool. Like to see how brave someone would be spiking against something like that!

And if some predator was after me just in general, then I’d like to be able to “read its fears” so to speak and become whatever it’s most scared of so it’d turn tail and leave me alone!

Okay, enough about me. What would you pick to mimic?

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.