From Sea to Sky: A Closer Look at Life's Colors

“No two eggs look exactly alike, and sometimes there can be great variation in egg color and pattern even within a single species.”
— Dr. Jack Dumbacher,
Curator of Ornithology and Mammalogy

Scientists hypothesize that each egg’s unique pattern and hue may function as camouflage, sunblock, or egg identification.

In fact, these hard-working colors may do all these things at once—and more.

Zoom in close, and you’ll see a dense coat of fine hairs covering the plant’s leaves and stems.

These hairs probably work as a fuzzy suit of armor, warding off predators that might otherwise take a bite.

Snails grow by adding calcium carbonate to the open edge of their shells, creating a hard casing that spirals outwards as they grow.

The source of the snail’s bright stripes hasn’t been rigorously studied, but it’s worth noting that one of the snail’s host trees, the bloodwood, is used to make dye. Depending on the acidity, the hues that the wood produces are red, yellow, purple, or blue.

Their vivid plumage may not get much use in flight, but brightly colored males may be more successful at attracting mates.

Feathers are made of the protein keratin, which is the same protein that makes up human hair and fingernails.

These orange glands grow only on the undersides of this plant’s leaves. The top and bottom surfaces of a leaf often aren’t the same; they get different levels of exposure to sun and moisture, and they have different roles to play for the plant.

Spur flowers have more than one line of defense. In addition to their layer of leaf hairs, the essential oils of this plant may repel insects and stop them from laying their eggs on its leaves.

This area shows damage to the leaf. It may have been caused by dryness, or an insect may have managed to get past the spur flower’s defenses.

The plant’s strong smell hasn’t stopped people in southeastern Africa from planting it around their homes. Though undocumented, local wisdom holds that the spur flower deters snakes.

In life, the urchin’s green spines and flesh covered these internal skeletons (called tests), and their intricate detail was hidden from view. The test functions much like our skeleton, providing support and protection for the animal’s systems.

“Urchins have elastic, versatile structures called tube feet that help them breathe, move, and gather food. The tiny pairs of holes here show where tube feet were once attached.”
— Dr. Rebecca Johnson, Co-Director of Community Science