This article appeared in the June 2021 issue of Discover magazine as "Natural-Born Liars." Subscribe for more stories like these.
We tend to assume that deliberately telling lies is some sort of pernicious aberration unique to liars. Perhaps it’s the result of a mental defect or, more likely, some sort of moral failing. It is not — everything living lies, including you.
Before you dismiss the thought, consider this: Human deception and evasion are no different than the animal equivalent of camouflage, spots and stripes. Charm is our very own version of frilly fins and peacock feathers. And the effort to deceive is an evolutionary arms race as old as organic life.
Take the blue morpho butterfly, for example; it’s the one with beautiful, iridescent, sky-blue wings. First lie: That dazzling blue color isn’t actually there. It’s just an optical illusion, created by blue light selectively reflected off of millions of mirrorlike, microscopic gray scales. The reverse side of their wings have no scales and are a dark, dull brown. That vivid blue only exists in your mind — or your eyes, depending on how you see it.
