ScienceWhat butterfly wings have in common with barbershop poles

A new paper in Nature suggests that stripes and spots on butterfly wings can disrupt predators’ visual estimates of speed and direction. By creating misleading motion cues and concealing the butterfly’s true heading, the patterns may cause birds and other predators to miss during the final moments of an attack.

butterfliesvisual illusionspredator evasion

AArs Technica★★☆☆☆2026-09-30 15:00Original