Fly

[guppiecat]

This fly really wants you think it’s a bee. Their strategy works because of the following logic:

1) When being pursued by a predator of little brain, they see the yellow and black stripes and think “OMG! It’s a bee! Better leave it alone!”

2) When being pursued by a predator of rather much brain, they see the yellow and black stripes and think “Hmm, it looks like a bee. But I know that some flies look like bees. Better look that up. OK, it looks like flies don’t stick pollen to their legs like bees do, but maybe it’s a bee that just started it’s day’s work. Flies also have larger eyes and smaller antenna than bees, but that’s only useful if there’s a bee to compare against. Oh! Bees have wings that overlap but flies have wings that stick out. So it’s probably a fly. To be safe though, I should compare it to other bees. Where can I find other bees?”

3) Then, when the predator of rather much brain is look up “bees” on Google Maps, the fly can get away.

Originally posted at stories.starmind.org.