Australia; VIC
Being shiny may be a good defence against attack from predators, with Australian research showing that jumping spiders were less precise at tracking glossy prey. The researchers made little cubes with various levels of gloss to resemble the grey or green glossy appearance of animals such as flies, beetles and bees, and found that jumping spider attacks were substantially less accurate with the glossy cubes. They say their results indicate that glossiness, when paired with motion, creates an unpredictable target that is difficult for predators to localise, offering insights into why some animals may have developed this glossiness in nature.
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