TEXT E At dusk, a sparrow flies
through the dark woods in search of a meal. Spotting a plump hawkmoth clinging
to a large tree trunk, the bird lands on a nearby branch. Moving in for the
attack, the sparrow suddenly spies a pair of round, menacing eyes. The eyes seem
to move up and down like those of an owl. Within a second, the sparrow is all
tail feathers as it makes its retreat. But what about the moth
In order to avoid being eaten, the moth practised a bit of natural "tom
foolery" by exposing its secret weapon--eyespots on its wings.
Eyespots are round markings or colorations on animals which look like real
eyes. Many in- sects, as well as fish and frogs, use them--in a variety of
ways--as a defense against predators. Eyespots can scare an
attacker away--as in the case of the moth above--by making the attacker think it
is facing one of its predators. Or they can simply fool predators into thinking
they are being watched. Even when the false eyes don’t stop an
attack, they may enable the one who wears them to survive. You see, eyespots are
often located "far" from vital organs, on wings, for instance. They lure
predators into attacking the "wrong end" of their prey. The
tropical butterfly fish, for example, has an eyespot at the base of its tail.
Predatory fish will often try to attack this spot, confusing the dark circle for
a real eye--only to find the fish escaping in a completely unexpected
direction. The eyespots on a peacock butterfly’s wings work in a
similar way. By luring the predator to the wings instead of the body, the
eyespots protect the peacock butterfly’s head from attack. Although the insect
may lose a claw or suffer a clipped wing, at least it hasn’t lost its
head! Eyespots work because they take advantage of a weakness in
predators, known as "innocence of the eye." Basically, this means that animals
believe what they see. Unlike humans, some animals cannot reason beyond what
their instincts and past experiences tell them. So, if something looks like an
eye to a predator, then it must be an eye--even if it graces the delicate wing
of a butterfly. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true
A．An insect can use its eyespots to protect itself without any cost. B．The predator of a tropical butterfly fish usually attacks its tail. C．The predator of a tropical butterfly fish cannot predict in which direction it will escape. D．A peacock butterfly has eyespots on its claws.