From roly-polies to trilobites, animals have been curling up the same way for millions of years. Simple behaviours sometimes evolve into entire lifestyles. From bugs to armadillos, thousands of animals today curl up; they are able to shape their bodies into a ball, becoming the ultimate defence strategy. Among all animals able to “roll”, arthropods…
Tag: convergent evolution
Why do things keep evolving into ants?
Ants represent one of the most striking cases of convergent evolution on Earth. Thousands of species, from spiders to crickets have evolved to resemble ants through a process known as Myrmecomorphy. Myrmecomorphy takes different shapes: sometimes, insects are trying to enter an ant’s nest undetected, a strategy known as Wasmannian mimicry. In other cases, the goal is to fool a potential predator by looking like an ant, or Batesian mimicry. Why do animals evolve into ants?
On elephants and bacteria 