Metaphors to Survive by: Mimicry as Biometaphors, Embodiment of Sign and Cognitive Tools (not only) in Animals?
Abstrakt
At least two major parallels between cognitive metaphors in human cognition and mimicry among animals justify viewing the two phenomena as isomorphic. First-from the semiotic point of view-the argument is that both metaphor and mimicry are cases of semiotic transfer (etymologically: metaphor) of the identity / sign of the source onto the perceived identity / sign of the target.
This identity transfer, in turn, trig-gers appropriate changes in the response (behavior) of the surrounding (human or animal) interpreters (e.g. preda-tors). Semiotically, the mimicry turns the body of its bearer into a sign of something else, resulting in the interpret-ers' (e.g. predators') perception of species X as species Y-hence, a type of embodied sign and cognitive metaphor.
Second, ecologically, a species occupying one niche (e.g. a moth: non-venomous, herbivorous primary consumer) is perceived and identified as an occupant of a different niche (e.g. a hornet: venomous, omnivorous predator). Thus, a potential predator's Umwelt is affected by its perceiving a hornet moth as "a hornet" where there is, in fact, a moth, and its response to this stimulus will not be predation but avoidance.
In terms of CMT, we could call this a biosem-iotic metaphor (bio-metaphor), e.g. "A MOTH IS A HORNET" or "PREY IS A PREDATOR".