Deception

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Challenging Mark Twain’s assertion that “man is the only one that lies.”, we discover that deception is a widespread evolutionary strategy employed by various species for survival and reproduction.

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Works Cited

  • Boeckmann, Catherine. “The Courageous Killdeer Bird.” Almanac.com, 30 May 2024, www.almanac.com/courageous-killdeer-bird.
  • Bond, Charles F., and Michael Robinson. “The Evolution of Deception.” Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, vol. 12, no. 4, Dec. 1988, pp. 295–307. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00987597.
  • Choi, Charles Q. “Deceptive Chimp Hides Ammo, Blasts Unsuspecting Zoo Visitors.” livescience.com, 17 May 2012, www.livescience.com/20388-stone-throwing-chimpanzee-deception.html.
  • Devlin, Kayleen. “Meet the Fakers of Nature.” BBC Earth, www.bbcearth.com/news/meet-the-fakers-of-nature.
  • Hare, Brian, et al. “Chimpanzees Deceive a Human Competitor by Hiding.” Cognition, vol. 101, no. 3, Oct. 2006, pp. 495–514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2005.01.011.
  • Josef, Noam, et al. “Camouflaging in a Complex Environment—Octopuses Use Specific Features of Their Surroundings for Background Matching.” PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 5, May 2012, p. e37579. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037579.
  • King, Barbara J. “Deception in the Animal Kingdom.” Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2024, www.scientificamerican.com/article/deception-in-the-animal-kingdom.
  • Leahy, Cory. “Poison Dart Frog Mimics Gain When Birds Learn to Stay Away.” UT News, 8 Aug. 2018, news.utexas.edu/2006/03/08/poison-dart-frog-mimics-gain-when-birds-learn-to-stay-away.
  • Mazhar, Mehek. “‘Surreal’ Killing of 4 Chimpanzees Has Zoologist Reconsidering Ties With Swedish Zoo.” CBC, 21 Dec. 2022, www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/sweden-zoo-chimpanzees-killed-1.6691262.
  • ML191144 – Killdeer – Macaulay Library. 12 May 2012, macaulaylibrary.org/asset/191144.
  • Sarkadi, Ştefan, et al. “The Evolution of Deception.” Royal Society Open Science, vol. 8, no. 9, Sept. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201032.
  • Stevens, Martin. “Nature’s Cheats: How Animals and Plants Trick and Deceive.” The Conversation, theconversation.com/natures-cheats-how-animals-and-plants-trick-and-deceive-55323.
  • —. “Nature’s Cheats: How Animals and Plants Trick and Deceive.” The Conversation, theconversation.com/natures-cheats-how-animals-and-plants-trick-and-deceive-55323.
  • Weird Science: Cleaners and Mimics | manoa.hawaii.edu/ExploringOurFluidEarth. manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/biological/fish/behavior-and-sensory-systems/weird-science-cleaners-mimics.
  • Wikipedia contributors. “Deception in Animals.” Wikipedia, 12 Aug. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception_in_animals.
  • —. “Octopus.” Wikipedia, 1 Sept. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus.
  • X, Science. “Deception and trickery are rife in natural world, scientist says in new book.” Phys.Org, 19 Feb. 2016, phys.org/news/2016-02-deception-trickery-rife-natural-world.html.
  • Yong, Ed. “The Bird That Cries Hawk: Fork-tailed Drongos Rob Meerkats With False Alarms.” Science, 3 Nov. 2010, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-bird-that-cries-hawk-fork-tailed-drongos-rob-meerkats-with-false-alarms#:~:text=The%20fork%2Dtailed%20species%20will,the%20calls%20of%20other%20species.
  • Zareyan, Shahab, et al. “A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing: Levels of Deceit and Detection in the Evolution of Cue-mimicry.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, vol. 286, no. 1910, Sept. 2019, p. 20191425. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1425.

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