to drag away the black*and*white foxes

[keannu]

Does this mean that predators thought of both the foxes and the skunks as real skunks or not? I guess they didn't drag the both away as they looked like real skunks, but a suspicious thing is if the predators considered body coloration of skunks, why did they avoid the stuffed skunks colored gray, not the original color of black and white? Is it because they had seen both gray and "black and white" among skunks?

mogo1-26
ex)According to a wildlife researcher, Jennifer Hunter, predators with experience of skunks avoid them both because of coloration and their distinctive body shape. She wanted to know how predators know a skunk is a skunk. She prepared lots of stuffed black­ and ­white skunks and gray foxes, which were about the same size. She dyed the stuffed skunks gray and the foxes black­ and ­white. She then placed the animals at many sites around California. In places where skunks were common, predators such as bears and mountain lions wouldn’t attempt to drag away the black­and­white foxes as well as the gray skunks.

 

[SoothingDave]

predators with experience of skunks avoid them both because of​

coloration​

and their distinctive body shape.​

Predators learned to avoid animals that were colored like skunks or that had body shapes like skunks.

 

[keannu]

So the color didn't matter for both the foxes and skunks as the both had skunks' body shape? This might be silly, but can you tell me which factor affected the skunks and the foxes? Gray Color for skunks and body shape for foxes? I can't understand why they colored the skunks gray.

 

[SoothingDave]

They were testing whether predators avoided skunks because they were black and white or because of their shapes or both. So they painted some foxes (different body shape) black and white. Predators avoided them. So we know predators avoid black and white animals.

Then they took some skunks and colored them grey (i.e. not black and white). The predators avoided them as well. So we learned that predators avoid animals that are shaped like skunks, even if they are not black and white.

So, they learned that predators who have had experience with skunks learn to avoid animals that are black and white and they learn to avoid animals that are shaped like skunks.

 

[keannu]

Perfect!!! Thanks a lot!!!!:up::up::up: