Scientists investigating how one of the greatest shape shifters in the natural world is able to trick predators to avoid being eaten have identified the gene behind the fascinating feat.
The African Swallowtail butterfly, also known as the 'Mocker Swallowtail' or the 'Flying Handkerchief,' can appear to change both colour and shape.
Males of the species fly boldly around the tree tops, their rapid flight making them look like shaking handkerchiefs, however females lurk in the bushes and pretend to be examples of Monarch butterflies that are nasty to eat.
The females mimic different Monarchs in different parts of Africa and how they do this has long been a mystery. In an international collaboration involving scientists from the Natural History Museum, Imperial College London, the University of Cambridge and researchers in Nairobi, Paris and Jena in Germany, The University of Exeter's Professor Richard ffrench-Constant (correct spelling) has helped solve the genetic switch that allows female swallowtails to look like different Monarch butterflies and thus avoid being eaten.
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