False spitfire bird

The false spitfire bird is a docile flutterbird native to the Antarctic Tropical Rainforest of 100 million AD in the documentary The Future is Wild.

The false spitfire bird uses an altogether more passive but no less effective form of defense than the spitfire bird. In appearance, it is almost identical to the spitfire bird. Unlike the spitfire bird, however, the false spitfire bird is harmless, as it does not have a chamber in its nasal cavity to mix the male and female chemicals of the spitfire flower, or an enzyme in its brain to unbind and spray them.

The false spitfire bird avoids danger by mimicking the appearance of its more dangerous cousin, the spitfire bird. This phenomenon is known as Batesian mimicry, where one species imitates the appearance of another to benefit from its defense mechanism without actually possessing the mechanism itself. An example of this during the Human era occurred in two Asian swallowtail butterflies: the edible common Mormon resembled the toxic common rose.

This usage of mimicry can keep a false spitfire bird safe from predators like falconflies.

The Future is Wild Species 5 Million Years Babookari • Carakiller • Cryptile • Deathgleaner • Desert rattleback • Gannetwhale • Gryken • Scrofa • Shagrat • Snowstalker • South American rattleback • Spink 100 Million Years Falconfly • False spitfire bird • Grass tree • Great blue windrunner • Lurkfish • Ocean phantom • Poggle • Red algae • Reef glider • Roachcutter • Silver spider • Spindletrooper • Spitfire beetle • Spitfire bird • Spitfire tree • Swampus • Toraton 200 Million Years Bumblebeetle • Deathbottle • Desert hopper • Forest flish • Garden worm • Gloomworm • Lichen tree • Megasquid • Ocean flish • Rainbow squid • Sharkopath • Silverswimmer • Slickribbon • Slithersucker • Squibbon • Terabyte