biologists at jyväskylä university in finland studied how wild great tits reacted to images of the wings of butterflies and the faces of owls .
the tits were startled and tried to flee at the sight of owl faces with open eyes , and butterflies that had eye spots on them that mimiced owl eyes .
they say their study is evidence that butterfly eye spots mimic predators .
scientists have long debated whether butterfly eye spots were an example of batesian mimicry or if the patterns simply served to confuse predators .