I like this thread too… Though, it’s worth noting that while we’re talking about “mimicry” in terms of one animal evolving to look or act like an unrelated, more dangerous animal, that is often a rather anthropomorphic way of looking at it. Really, what’s happening with colors and behaviors, like any other traits, is that species have evolved to be fittest to reproduce. And animals that occupy similar ecological niches often experience convergent evolution, which is where unrelated species evolve similar traits to adapt to similar ecological pressures.
Take the scarlet king/coral example: We think of coral snakes as dangerous because of their venom (they’re intensely shy and reticent to bite, but that’s neither here nor there). And we sometimes say that scarlet kings have evolved to look like coral snakes so predators will mistake them for coral snakes and keep away from them. In reality, though, both snakes occupy similar habitats and ecological niches and both are, of course, just trying to breed and avoid predation. The ecological pressures that resulted in coral snakes evolving their color scheme were/are very similar to the pressures on scarlet king snakes. Meaning that many of the myriad of factors that led the coral snake to develop its color scheme also led the scarlet king to develop its color scheme. Things like camouflage, ability to attract a mate, responsiveness to sunlight and heat, etc. all go into color scheme. Evolving at the same time in the same place, means both species adapted to the pressures put on them and now look similar because of it. Saying one copied another because of one specific trait (venom) that the other has (that we humans are afraid of) is an overly simplified misinterpretation of what’s going on.
The rattlesnake example is perhaps clearer. It’s anthropomorphizing to say a kingsnake (or other colubrid) “rattles” its tail to mimic a rattlesnake, when the reality is that many colubrids, like rattlesnakes, have adapted to rattle presumably because the noise and motion of tail rattling deters predators. As humans who know about venom, we’re wary of rattlesnakes and unafraid of kings (at least on this message board), so we often think that the kingsnake tail-shaking is silly and cute and we say it is mimicking a rattlesnake. But other predators don’t know that one snake is venomous and the other not and really, the two snakes both evolved over time to perform similar actions because those actions deter predators. (Note: Like most of us, I’m just assuming that that’s why snakes rattle their tail. Lots of factors went into the evolution of that action and deterring predators is perhaps only a small part of it.). A king snake certainly doesn’t know what a rattlesnake is. But it “knows” to rattle its tail when it feels threatened.
Biomimicry does exist in nature, but convergent evolution is a powerful concept, and it’s probably worth recognizing when we’re putting our human spin on the very complex natural phenomena that we see.
That said, these pics are fun, and great, and enlightening (I never knew rough scaled sand boas and Russell’s vipers looked so similar. It’s awesome.) and I’m certainly not trying to negate any of this thread or any of the wonderful posters.