Why are warning colours in animals so rare?

有毒的昆虫会显示出警告色，以防止捕食者将它们与令人不快的味道联系在一起。从理论上讲，能够显示警告颜色的物种数量是没有限制的，但据估计只有大约5%的物种具有这种颜色。这就提出了一个基本的、尚未解决的生物学问题——警告色的界限是什么？该项目旨在通过测试预测预警信号限制的三个假设来解决这个重要的生物学问题。预计的结果是提高对这些彩色昆虫生态位的了解，这可能为保护和生物多样性管理提供信息，并提高对这些艳丽生物的认识。

Toxic insects display warning colours as protection from predators who learn to associate them with an unpleasant taste. Theoretically, there is no limit to the number of species that could show warning colours but only about 5% are estimated to have them. This presents a fundamental and unresolved biological problem - what limits warning colours? This project aims to address this significant biological question by testing three hypotheses predicting warning signal limitations. Projected outcomes are an improved understanding of the ecological niche of these colourful insects, which may inform conservation and biodiversity management and raise awareness of these flamboyant creatures.