If we look at the detail of a living butterfly in the way that a bird sees it, surprising images reveal themselves: owl eyes, snake heads, caterpillars, lizards, wasps, birds’ beaks and feathers.

Professor Philip Howse explains how these living tapestries have been designed by evolution to protect insects from their principal predators, which include birds, lizards and monkeys. These insectivores, it is argued, detect their prey by perceiving small details of shape and colour rather than the ‘whole picture’ of the insect.