Splat! 5 Species that Masquerade as Bird Droppings

It’s tough out there for small animals. Other animals are always trying to eat them, so they have to use tactics like blending in or being toxic to stay alive. These 5 animals, however, take self-preservation to a whole new level, and disguise themselves as… bird poop.

Hosted by: Stefan Chin

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Sources:
General
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/group/poison-dart-frogs/
https://phys.org/news/2018-10-elucidating-cuttlefish-camouflage.html
https://www.pnas.org/content/108/16/6532.short
https://www.audubon.org/news/what-makes-bird-poop-white
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10336-019-01692-5
https://australianmuseum.net.au/blog-archive/amri-news/amri-bird-poo-frogs-more-species/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282246084_Theloderma_asperum_Hill_garden_Bug-eyed_frog_Defensive_behavior
https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2015-10-12-how-plants-dupe-dung-beetles-into-burying-their-seeds
https://www.nature.com/articles/nplants2015141

Potter wasps
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03946975.2015.1027103
https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Potter-Wasp
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0085-56262013005000044&script=sci_arttext
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-30_potter_wasp_eumenes.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter_wasp

Orb web spiders
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/spider-web-spun-look-bird-poop-180951589/
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep05058

Caterpillars
https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Giant-Swallowtail-Butterfly
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/citrus/giantswallowtail.htm
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347215001463

Bird-dung crab spiders
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28124-zoologger-a-spider-that-looks-and-smells-like-bird-droppings/
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12177
http://gb.oversea.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?filename=1016047741.nh&dbcode=CMFD&dbname=CMFDTEMP
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/asjaa1936/48/1/48_1_71/_pdf
http://www.chanel-00.com/lib_/Qikan/Article/Detail%3Fid%3D665129207&prev=search

Macrocilix maia
https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/art-hiding
http://www.myrmecos.net/2011/08/30/a-mural-on-moth-wings/

Image Sources:
https://figshare.com/articles/Bird_dropping_masquerading_of_the_nest_by_the_potter_wasp_i_Minixi_suffusum_i_Fox_1899_Hymenoptera_Vespidae_Eumeninae_/1400491
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Potter%27s_Wasp_Nests.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/treegrow/46268384155

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/15520576
https://www.flickr.com/photos/10239508@N07/5657149985
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Papilio_cresphontes_larva_defensive.JPG

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyclosa_ginnaga_(%E3%82%AE%E3%83%B3%E3%83%8A%E3%82%AC%E3%82%B4%E3%83%9F%E3%82%B0%E3%83%A2)_(15009463214).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyclosa.ginnaga.male.1.-.tanikawa.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E3%82%AE%E3%83%B3%E3%83%8A%E3%82%AC%E3%82%B4%E3%83%9F%E3%82%B0%E3%83%A2_(Cyclosa_ginnaga)_(15508045951).jpg
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16148293

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20873833
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20873892
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/31044535
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phrynarachne_ceylonica_(37664885586).jpg
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19818462

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macrocilix_maia.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macrocilix_maia_(23481819553).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macrocilix_maia_(34360241635).jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/botalex/6564971201/in/photostream/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A43-20170426-137_(34909531601).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sarcophagid_fly_Portrait.jpg

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19568181
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19568175
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theloderma_asperum.png