How butterflies copy their neighbors to fool birds

The mystery of how a butterfly changes its wing patterns to mimic neighboring species and avoid being eaten by birds has been solved. Scientists located and sequenced the chromosomal region responsible for the wing patterns in an Amazonian butterfly. They found that three versions of the same chromosome coexist in this species, each version controlling distinct wing-pattern forms. This has resulted in butterflies that look completely different from one another, despite having the same DNA.

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