Henry Walter Bates

Henry Walter Bates was a 19th-century British naturalist and explorer renowned for his work on butterflies and insects. He conducted extensive research in the Amazon rainforest, discovering and describing thousands of species. Bates is best known for identifying "Batesian mimicry," a survival strategy where harmless species imitate the warning signals of harmful ones to avoid predators. His discoveries greatly advanced understanding of evolution, adaptation, and biodiversity. Bates’s contributions helped shape modern entomology and evolutionary biology, highlighting the importance of natural ecosystems and species interactions.