Animal actors
Many animals protect themselves by pretending.
The frilled lizard is small and harmless. But it pretends to be big and
dangerous. When it opens its mouth its throat is bright red and
frightening. A big flap of skin on its neck lifts up and spreads out.
The lizard suddenly looks much bigger and very dangerous!
The harmless hog-nose snake pretends to be dangerous, too. It opens its
mouth and hisses. It pretends it’s going to bite. But then, if its enemy
isn’t frightened, the hog-nose snake acts dead. It rolls over onto its
back and lies still. Most animals don’t care to eat dead snakes, so the
enemy usually goes away.
Some animals pretend that they aren’t even animals. The bird called a
tawny frogmouth pretends to be part of a tree. Its feathers look like
bark. It sits on a branch,
This frightened snake is pretending to be dead so that its enemy will go
away.
Eastern Hognose Snake
Frilled Lizard
The frilled lizard looks frightening, but it is really harmless.
stretches itself out, and closes its eyes. It looks just like a broken
branch.
Some animal actors have disguises that protect them from enemies and
help them get food at the same time. The South American leaf fish looks
just like a leaf floating in the water. Bigger fish pass right by it.
But when a smaller fish swims near—gulp! The leaf fish swallows it
down!
These animal actors don’t know they’re pretending. It’s just one of the
ways they stay alive.
