Camouflage & Mimicry COLOURS Matter in Animals
Concealing Colouration
Concealing colouration is when an animal hides itself against a background of the same colour. For example, the above colour of the lion blends in with the grassland background.
Examples include the snowy owl, snow shoe hare and polar bear
Disruptive Colouration
Disruptive coloration is when animals have spots, stripes or patterns to break up their outline so that it does not stick against the background. Examples include zebras, leopards and tigers.
Disguise
Disguise is when animals blend in with their surroundings by looking like another object. An insect that looks like a branch or leaf is using a costume to hide from predators. Examples include walking sticks such as katydids and leaf insects.
Mimicry
Mimicry is when animals or insects look like other dangerous, bad tasting or poisonous animals or insects. They pretend to be what they are not. Some snakes, butterflies or moths use this type of camouflage. Some examples include the scarlet king snake, the hawk moth and the Viceroy butterfly.
The zebra's disruptive colouration helps break up it's outline in a herd. This makes it difficult for other animals such as lions to see it.
The racoon butterfly fish uses the black and yellow colouration patterns to make it hard for a predator to single out an individual in a group.
The leopard's spotted coats, also known as rosette, helps to camouflage them in grass and tall brush while they hunt.
Videos that show amazing camouflage by animals
Created with images by Michael Khor - "Small pod for camouflage!" • werner22brigitte - "toad green tree frog frog" • kdee64 - "Not a Pussy Cat" • bobistraveling - "21 American Green Tree Frog Pittsboro NC 1269" • ckatzmaier0 - "zebra africa black and white striped" • Hiasinho - "Leopard" • xpda - "Walking Stick" • Brett_Hondow - "grasshopper camouflage katydid" • pondhawk - "Limenitis archippus, Viceroy 1, Apalachicola, 4-18-06" • kowloon - "texture zebra stripes"