Practice question

A nonvenomous king snake can resemble a venomous coral snake in its conspicuous ringed coloration. Predators that avoid coral snakes may generalize that response to the harmless look-alike, allowing the king snake to gain protection without producing venom. This is the classic logic of Batesian mimicry: an undefended mimic copies a defended model. Müllerian mimicry would require both species to impose meaningful costs on predators, Wasmannian mimicry concerns close associates of social insects, and Mertensian mimicry involves an extremely lethal form resembling a less dangerous defended model. Regional variation matters because resemblance is protective chiefly where coral snakes and informed predators occur. A careful interpretation retains the assumptions of the underlying model and avoids extending it beyond available evidence. Within those assumptions, the keyed concept gives the most consistent account of the biological pattern and its expected outcome. This interpretation follows ecological definitions based on effects on fitness, energy flow, behavior, and population performance. It also shows why superficially similar alternatives can represent different mechanisms once the direction of benefit, harm, or resource transfer is considered.