Question

The cause of mimicry is
A) Isolation
B) Attack
C) Protection
D) Both B and C

Answer 1

Mimicry is the behaviour seen in various animals in which they imitate other animals, plants and natural objects. In evolutionary biology mimicry is the resemblance evolved between one organism and another natural object or most often the organisms of another species.

Complete answer:
Option (A) Isolation: Isolation is the process in which animals become isolated in one place without having contact with anyone. We must know that environmental changes are one of the reasons behind their isolation. Isolation is caused due to various barriers like physical barriers, different habitat, and difference in sexual maturity.
So, Option (A) is not correct.
Option (B) Attack: We know that predatory animals like tiger, lion etc prey on other animals that mimic some natural object to confuse their prey so that they can catch them easily. Do you know that this type of mimicry is known as aggressive mimicry. Aggressive mimicry involves strategy in which a predator employs signals which attract prey toward it and allows predators to simply sit and wait for the prey to come toward them.
So, option (B) is correct.
Option (C) Protection: When animal mimics other animals, plants and natural object for their protection from predator this type of mimicry is known as protection mimicry, for example kalmia butterfly which looks similar to dry leaf and it lies on ground and mimic dry leaf and predators gets confused by thinking that it is dry leaf.
So, option (C) is correct.
Option (D): Both (B) and (C): We know that predatory animals like tiger, lion etc prey on other animals that mimic some natural object to confuse their prey so that they can catch them easily. Do you know that this type of mimicry is known as aggressive mimicry. When an animal mimics other animals, plants and natural objects for their protection from predators this type of mimicry is known as protection mimicry.

he cause of mimicry is both Attack and Protection. So, the correct answer is option (D).

Note:
Mimicry is used as a defence mechanism by animals. There are three types of mimicry seen: batesian mimicry, mullerian mimicry and self-mimicry. And it refers to similarities between animal species.