To us, these appeared to gaze directly ahead or to one side. All of the prey were designed to be equally conspicuous to the predators. The paper triangles were printed with eyespots in one of three configurations: either perfectly concentric circles, or with the center circle nudged to the right or left. We created the moths by pinning paper triangles over mealworms - a favorite food of chicks. We tested the idea that forward-facing eyespots appear to gaze at predators by pitting artificial moths against newly hatched domestic chicks. They may simply see ‘scary’ conspicuous markings. Humans might perceive eyespots to look like eyes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that predators do too. There are many conspicuous colors and patterns in the animal kingdom that are aversive to predators but look nothing like eyes - for example, the red and black patterns of ladybirds. Predators could be deterred not because eyespots look like eyes, but simply because they are patterns that stand out. On the other hand, if eyespots were displaced either to the left or right, they would only protect prey from predators approaching from that direction.Īnother explanation is that eyespots have nothing to do with eyes. Much like the portraits whose eyes seem to follow you around the room, eyespots might appear to maintain eye contact with predators no matter their vantage point. If this is the case, then eyespots that seem to look directly at them would be the most threatening. One explanation for this is that predators mistake eyespots for the eyes of their own predators. Eyespots also can be intimidating and deter predators from attacking at all. Eyespots can deflect a predator’s attention to a prey’s non-vital body parts (a prey is much more likely to survive a bite to its tail than its head). Many species of fish, butterflies, moths, praying mantids, and beetles have paired circular markings on their bodies that often appear to resemble eyes. But in the animal kingdom it can be a matter of life or death. Nature seems to have hit upon the same idea. When artists paint their sitter’s eyes with the pupils perfectly centered, no matter where visitors stand – to the left, right, or in front of the painting – eye contact is guaranteed. Have you ever felt that a person in a portrait is watching you, their eyes following you about a room? This optical illusion is known as the Mona Lisa effect, after Leonardo da Vinci’s famously enigmatic painting. How art mirrors life when it comes to moth wings But how, and does a predator’s angle of approach make them less effective? Dr Hannah Rowland and Dr John Skelhorn write for Frontiers about their research, published today in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, into how these protective patterns on moth wings convince birds it’s not worth attacking the insects. Many prey species have eyespot markings that are believed to ward off predators. By Dr Hannah Rowland, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, and Dr John Skelhorn, Newcastle University

Predator vs prey eyes