Walking like ants gives spiders a chance

To avoid being eaten, some jumping spiders pretend to be ants, a new study has found. Protective mimicry is a remarkable example of adaptive evolution: Moths can be colored like butterflies and grasshoppers may look like tiger beetles. While most mimicry studies focus on traits like color and shape, the researchers in this work used multiple high-speed cameras and behavioral experiments to pinpoint how the spider’s movements mimic ants.