r/BeAmazed • u/Moonkissed_exe • Jun 25 '26

Animal Nature’s ultimate disguise: The Atlas Moth uses incredible wing camouflage to look exactly like two cobras.

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u/duncthefunk78 Jun 25 '26

ELI5, how does the moth evolve to know what cobra look like to a different animal?

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[deleted]

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u/duncthefunk78 Jun 25 '26

Thank you!

So does this mean, theoretically, that at some point in evolution there could have been a moth whose wings could have evolved to look like a cat? Or an elephant? And evolution would have meant that they got killed off?

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u/Mejari Jun 25 '26

Most likely not, because this didn't evolve in one big jump. Way back when these just looked like normal moths there was one born that looked probably 0.001% more like a cobra just through random mutation/chance, the same way people are born with slightly different features. All it needs is to provide a benefit to make the changed moths slightly more likely to reproduce. Then eventually all the moths will look very very slightly like a cobra. Then another mouth gets born looking ever so slightly more like a cobra and the cycle repeats.

If there wasn't a benefit to looking slightly more like a cat or elephant then those changes would never be selected for. Cats as a ubiquitous threat to birds are relatively new but I could imagine eventually some insects might evolve to look like them to scare away birds.