GoKawiilStudy links butterfly wing patterns to barbershop-pole motion illusion
A new paper in Nature reports that stripes and spots on many butterfly wings create a visual effect similar to the illusion seen in rotating barbershop poles, where predators misjudge the insect's speed and direction. Co-author George Hancock of the University of Exeter says these patterns generate false motion cues while masking the butterfly's actual flight path, interfering with predators during the split-second window of an attack.