Latest Eyespot Stories

Male peacock tail plumage and courtship antics likely influence their success at attracting and mating with females, according to recent Queen's University research.Roz Dakin and Robert Montgomerie have found that natural variation in the number of eyespots on a peacock's tail does not impact a male's mating success. However, peacocks whose tails are clipped to considerably reduce the number of eyespots are less successful at mating.Female rejection of males with substantially fewer eyespots...

Yale University biologists say they've determined butterflies seem able to both attract mates and ward off predators by using different sides of their wings. You want to be noticeable and desirable for mates, but other onlookers, including predators, are paying attention to those signals as well, said Jeffrey Oliver, a Yale postdoctoral researcher. Oliver was interested in whether the eyespots on the upper side of butterflies' wings serve a different purpose than the ones on the underside....

Butterflies seem able to both attract mates and ward off predators using different sides of their wings, according to new research by Yale University biologists.Trying to find the balance between these two crucial behaviors is one of nature's oldest dilemmas, according to Jeffrey Oliver, a postdoctoral associate in Yale's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and lead author on the study, which appears online today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological...

Circular markings on creatures such as butterflies are effective against predators because they are conspicuous features, not because they mimic the eyes of the predators' own enemies, according to research published today in the journal, Behavioral Ecology[1]. Zoologists based at the University of Cambridge challenge the 150-year-old theory about why these markings are effective against predators. Many animals possess protective markings to avoid predation, including patterns to reduce the...

By Chris MarloweLOS ANGELES -- Consumers are remixing videos by several emerging bands, then posting the mash-ups online at Eyespot to share with the world. What makes this site different from others is that here the art form is legal.Eyespot is designed so that anyone can upload, edit, mix and share almost all formats of digital media without needing to download software or pay a fee."We wanted to create a video editing and remixing environment that was drop-dead simple so there would...