Why are warning colours in animals so rare?

有毒的昆虫显示警告颜色，以防止捕食者学会将它们与令人不快的味道联系起来。从理论上讲，可以显示警告颜色的物种数量没有限制，但估计只有大约5%的物种具有警告颜色。这提出了一个基本的和未解决的生物学问题-是什么限制了警告颜色？该项目旨在通过测试预测警告信号限制的三个假设来解决这一重要的生物学问题。预计结果是提高对这些色彩缤纷的昆虫的生态位的理解，这可能会为保护和生物多样性管理提供信息，并提高对这些华丽生物的认识。

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.