Study
The complex business of survival by aposematism
Mappes, Johanna; Marples, Nicola; Endler, John A.
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2005
Reviews how warning coloration works and why it is difficult to explain, covering predator learning, innate biases, the problem of how a conspicuous mutant survives when it is rare, and the interaction between warning signals and mimicry.
- Studied in
- Animalia
- Sample size
- review
Aposematism depends on predator psychology rather than on the signal alone. Conspicuousness aids learning and memory, predators show innate wariness of some patterns, and the initial evolution of a rare conspicuous form remains the central unsolved problem, since the first such individual has no established signal to benefit from.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Warning coloration should be analysed as a communication system whose properties are set by how predators learn and remember, not by the appearance of the prey in isolation.
How NatureHQ reads it
The record that makes warning colour a receiver problem rather than a colour problem. It also states the honest difficulty at the centre of the subject: a conspicuous individual among cryptic relatives is more likely to be attacked, so how the system starts is genuinely unresolved.
- A review; much of the underlying work uses artificial prey and captive or semi-natural predator populations.
- Predator psychology is inferred from behaviour, and different predator species learn very differently.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Warning coloration
A warning colour is not a property of the animal wearing it. It works because predators learn, remember and generalise — and a signal nothing has learned about offers no protection at all.
Warning coloration
Bright colouring is not a reliable guide to whether an animal is dangerous. Conspicuous animals may be signalling to mates, mimicking something defended, or simply not conspicuous to the eyes that matter.
Poison frogs
Within the poison frog family there is a real tendency for more conspicuous species to carry more toxin. It is a tendency within one family, not a rule that transfers to animals in general.
Published by: Elsevier journalsPublished in an Elsevier journal.
doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2005.07.011
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-03.