Learn About Animal Camouflage

In nature the purpose of survival is to live long enough to pass on your genes to the next generation. Prey species need to be able to avoid being eaten and predator species need to catch those animals in order to survive. 

What biologists call an evolutionary arms race develops where prey species evolve better avoidance techniques and predator species evolve better hunting methods. One of the most common forms of both defense and attack is the same trait, camouflage. 

A good disguise can allow a predator to get very close to its prey without being detected. Good camouflage, coupled with stealthy movements can allow the lion to get within striking distance of the fast moving impala. 

Many prey species use their camouflage to hide from hungry predators. It becomes especially important when they are in vulnerable positions such as eating or drinking as well as resting. 

It is not only the color of the fur or skin of the animal that helps it blend in, it can also be the texture. A lioness's fur can look exactly like dry, wavy savanna grass. 

Using camouflage as an attack or defense mechanism doesn’t depend on size. Even the 18–foot tall giraffe can hide very effectively, with its spots looking just like the sun–dappled shade. 

Concealing, or background matching is the most common camouflage tactic found in nature. Concealing camouflage refers to an animal’s coloration matching their most common habitat. 

Animals found in the desert are almost always sandy colored, matching their relatively uniform environment. Water dwelling animals will often have 2 types of concealment camouflage, which depends on whether the animal is viewed from above or below. 

Animals that live in habitats that change dramatically throughout the year have a unique challenge when it comes to concealment camouflage. For example, the Arctic fox has a snowy white coat during winter but grows a darker coat in summer.

Since fur takes months to grow, animals with fur are more likely to change camouflage depending on the season. Scales and feathers grow back faster, allowing coloration to change for camouflage as well as communication purposes such as breeding season.

Prior to the 1800s peppered moths were mostly speckled light grey to match the light colored trees. Pollution coated the trees black, making the light colored moths easy to spot. The rarer dark colored moth variant camouflaged more effectively and became the common variant. 

Some animals use materials found in their environment to help them blend in. Caddisfly larvae cover themselves with bits of sand and debris to give themselves a protective coat of armor and conceal themselves on the river bottom. 

Animals that frequent a range of different looking backgrounds often use disruptive camouflage. It breaks up an animal's outline, making it difficult to distinguish where the animal starts and ends, and disguises prominent features like eyes. 

This type of camouflage seems counterproductive as it relies on strong, bold patterns to hide the animal.

Zebras are probably the most well–known animals that rely on the technique of disruptive camouflage. Lions, the main predator of zebras, find it difficult to distinguish individual zebras within a herd. 

Zebras also blend into long grass. The stripes act as a continuation of the grass blades. It doesn’t matter that a zebra’s stripes are black and white, as lions are color–blind. 

Some animals have stripes running over their eyes. Since it’s difficult to observe where the animal is looking, this could be a successful hunting technique. Others use this feature to disguise the eye, making the animal unrecognizable as an animal at all (to another animal!).

Disguise camouflage, also called mimesis, is when an animal tries to look like something else that is not very interesting. Mainly used in prey species to avoid being eaten, some predator species use disguise camouflage to lure in prey. 

This type of camouflage is used extensively in the insect world.

The eggs of a stick insect also use disguise camouflage. These eggs look like seeds, and the female deliberately scatters them around to make it look like random seed dispersal. 

The flower mantis disguises itself for a very different reason. These mantis feed on smaller insects and have evolved to look like flowers. Unsuspecting insects land on the “flowers” looking for pollen. 

Disguise camouflage used to attract prey is sometimes called aggressive mimicry.

The Malayan leaf frog uses its disguise camouflage for both attack and defense. While it looks like an uninteresting leaf to potential predators such as birds, the frog waits patiently for an unsuspecting insect to walk past. 

Batesian mimicry is almost the opposite of disguise camouflage. Instead of resembling something harmless or uninteresting, the animal mimics something dangerous or aggressive, hoping to scare other animals away. 

This form of camouflage is common in the insect world, but can also be found in the ocean and among some birds.

Hoverflies use Batesian mimicry. These harmless flies have evolved to look like the more dangerous and agressive wasp. Predators who have had unpleasant encounters with wasps will avoid anything that looks the same.

The larvae of the elephant hawkmoth would be a juicy meal for any bird. This caterpillar is prepared though, shaping itself into a snake head. Its prominent eye patches help the illusion that the bird has discovered a snake in the bushes.

Batesian mimicry only works if there are not too many mimics. It relies on predators having a bad experience with the dangerous animal the mimic is copying. If the predator finds out that the mimic is actually harmless, then the camouflage doesn’t work.

Animals can also disguise the way they sound. Some insects that are not tasty to bats emit a high pitched sound, the auditory equivalent of warning colors. Moths such as the tiger moth copy this sound, hoping bats will avoid them too.

Most animals only achieve 1 type of camouflage. However, members of the cephalopod family are capable of the most sophisticated camouflage in the animal kingdom. 

These animals, which include squid, cuttlefish, and octopus can change their color in milliseconds, and many species can change their skin texture and shape with dramatic results. 

A cuttlefish’s skin can produce multiple colors and patterns within milliseconds. Scientists are only just starting to understand how it achieves this. We do know that specialized pigment organs called chromatophores are responsible for the changes.

This remarkable ability allows the cuttlefish to camouflage against almost any background. In the lab scientists have observed cuttlefish mimicking a checkerboard pattern, a pattern certainly not found in the natural world. 

The amazing color changing abilities of cuttlefish and octopus would be remarkable on its own, however both animals can also change the texture of their skin in unusual ways including adding horns or spines.