Camouflage facts for kids

Hooded grasshopper (Teratodus monticollis) is camouflaged in both shape and colour

Camouflaged Ibex in the Israeli desert

Kallima inachus, the Indian leaf butterfly Shows the leaf-like appearance of the underside of the wing, visible when wings are closed. This is typical of the whole genus.

Really exceptional camouflaged frog,
almost invisible (facing right, on the upper left of the nearly-vertical stick on the rightmost third of the photo). Brazil

Frog in above photo highlighted

Typical tabby cat is dark striped on its back, head and paws, and white on its belly. That is countershading, a key means of camouflage.

Seahorse

Camouflage is a visual disguise. Without it, an animal would be recognised easily. If the natural colour of an animal makes it look like its surroundings, that is camouflage. A tiger's stripes in the long grass, and the battledress of a modern soldier are examples.

Camouflage is a form of deception. The word camouflage comes from the French word camoufler, which means "to disguise".

Natural camouflage

In nature, most animals blend into their environment or conceal their shape. They are very hard to see. This way they survive, and if they survive, then they can reproduce. There are exceptions: animals which are dangerous to eat (e.g. wasps) advertise with warning colouration.

Prey animals hide from predators. Predators must search for prey without being seen. Natural camouflage is one way to do this: an animal can blend in with its surroundings. Another way is for the animal to disguise itself as something harmless.

Some camouflaged animals also copy movements in nature, e.g., of a leaf blowing in the wind. Other animals attach natural materials to their body for concealment. A few animals change color in changing environments. Seasonally: (many Arctic animals, such as the arctic fox, or arctic hare). Or quickly, like the chameleon and the cuttlefish. Some herd animals, like zebra, have a pattern which makes it difficult for the predator when they are running.

Mimicry is a special kind of camouflage, where an animal or plant looks like another, usually one which is unpleasant to eat or dangerous.

Countershading

Most animals are dark on top and light underneath. With light coming from the sky, this countershading makes them less visible. That this is the correct explanation is proved by cases where the animal lives upside down. A famous example is the Nile catfish, which swims belly uppermost. In this case, the belly is dark, and the back is light in colour.^p43

Transparency and silvering

Transparent or partly transparent animals are common in the pelagic layer of the sea. These are the layers into which light penetrates. The effect of transparency or silvering works is better under water than above it. This is because the amount of light which penetrates is less and less as the depth increases. Also, the proportion of the light reflected is much less under water (0.001–0.6%) than in air (2–5%).

Related pages

• Military camouflage
• Mimicry
• Warning colouration: the opposite of camouflage

• Ferrari, Mareo 1992. Colors for survival: mimicry and camouflage in nature. NY: Barnes & Noble. ISBN: 0-7607-0551-8
• Behrens, Roy R. 2002. False colors: art, design and modern camouflage. Bobolink Books. ISBN: 0-9713244-0-9
• Wolf, Art 2005. Vanishing act. Text by Barbara Sleeper. NY: Bullfinch Press. ISBN: 0-8212-5750-1
• Purser, Bruce 2003. Jungle bugs: masters of camouflage & mimicry. Toronto: Firefly. ISBN: 1-55297-663-7
• Forbes, Peter 2009. Dazzled and deceived: mimicry and camouflage. Yale University Press. ISBN: 978-0-300-17896-8

• Harris, Tom. 2006. How animal camouflage works. [1] How Stuff Works.

• BBC/Attenborough: Octopus hides in shells, from Blue Planet II. [2]

Gallery

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  Scops owl in tree: feathers camouflage the owl during daytime

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  A mantis from Madagascar looks like a dead leaf.

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  Two flatfish blending in!

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  A leaf insect at home

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  Zoo tiger looks striking: but in home environment it blends with the long grass.

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  The more real the surroundings, the better the camouflage.

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  Tawny Frogmouths blend in with colour and texture of tree bark. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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  Spider hides in flower

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  Draco indochinensis uses several methods of camouflage: disruptive colouration, lying flat, concealment of shadow.

Images for kids

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  The peacock flounder can change its pattern and colours to match its environment.

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  A soldier applying camouflage face paint; both helmet and jacket are disruptively patterned.

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  Octopuses like this Octopus cyanea can change colour (and shape) for camouflage

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  Experiment by Poulton, 1890: swallowtailed moth pupae with camouflage they acquired as larvae

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  Abbott Thayer's 1907 painting Peacock in the Woods depicted a peacock as if it were camouflaged.

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  Illustration of the principle of "maximum disruptive contrast" by Hugh Cott, 1940

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  The leafy sea dragon sways like seaweeds to reinforce its camouflage.

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  Principle of counter-illumination in the firefly squid

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  Many animals of the open sea, like this Aurelia labiata jellyfish, are largely transparent.

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  Glass frogs like Hyalinobatrachium uranoscopum use partial transparency for camouflage in the dim light of the rainforest.

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  The adult herring, Clupea harengus, is a typical silvered fish of medium depths, camouflaged by reflection.

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  The herring's reflectors are nearly vertical for camouflage from the side.

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  Blackdevil anglerfish is one of several deep-sea fishes camouflaged against very dark water with a black dermis.

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  The zebra's bold pattern may induce motion dazzle in observers

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  Roman ships, depicted on a 3rd-century AD sarcophagus

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  Green-jacketed rifleman firing Baker rifle 1803

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  Iron observation post camouflaged as a tree by Cubist painter André Mare, 1916

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  A hide used in field sports

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  Cellphone tower disguised as a tree

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  The "dazzle ball" held by the Chelsea Arts Club, 1919

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  Black-faced sandgrouse is coloured like its desert background.

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  Egyptian nightjar nests in open sand with only its camouflaged plumage to protect it.

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  Papuan frogmouth resembles a broken branch.

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  Bright green katydid has the colour of fresh vegetation.

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  Leopard: a disruptively camouflaged predator

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  Russian T-90 battle tank painted in bold disruptive pattern of sand and green

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  Gaboon viper's bold markings are powerfully disruptive.

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  A ptarmigan and five chicks exhibit exceptional disruptive camouflage

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  Jumping spider: a disruptively camouflaged invertebrate predator

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  Many understory plants such as the saw greenbriar, Smilax bona-nox have pale markings, possibly disruptive camouflage.

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  "Shape, shine, shadow" make these 'camouflaged' military vehicles easily visible.

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  The flat-tail horned lizard's body is flattened and fringed to minimise its shadow.

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  Camouflage netting is draped away from a military vehicle to reduce its shadow.

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  A caterpillar's fringe of bristles conceals its shadow.

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  This decorator crab has covered its body with sponges.

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  Sniper in a Ghillie suit with plant materials

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  Reduvius personatus, masked hunter bug nymph, camouflaged with sand grains

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  Soviet tanks under netting dressed with vegetation, 1938

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  Male Syritta pipiens hoverflies use motion camouflage to approach females

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  Male Australian Emperor dragonflies use motion camouflage to approach rivals.

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  Rock ptarmigan, changing colour in springtime. The male is still mostly in winter plumage

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  Norwegian volunteer soldiers in Winter War, 1940, with white camouflage overalls over their uniforms

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  Arctic hares in the low arctic change from brown to white in winter

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  Snow-camouflaged German Marder III jagdpanzer and white-overalled crew and infantry in Russia, 1943

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  Veiled chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus, changes colour mainly in relation to mood and for signalling.

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  Adaptiv infrared camouflage lets an armoured vehicle mimic a car.

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  Countershaded Dorcas gazelle, Gazella dorcas

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  Countershaded grey reef shark, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos

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  Countershaded ship and submarine in Thayer's 1902 patent application

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  Two model birds painted by Thayer: painted in background colours on the left, countershaded and nearly invisible on the right

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  Countershaded Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9

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  HMS Largs by night with incomplete diffused lighting camouflage, 1942, set to maximum brightness

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  Bulwark of HMS Largs showing 4 (of about 60) diffused lighting fittings, 2 lifted, 2 deployed

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  Yehudi Lights raise the average brightness of the plane from a dark shape to the same as the sky.

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  Peppered moth caterpillars mimic twigs

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  Flower mantis lures its insect prey by mimicking a Phalaenopsis orchid blossom

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  This grasshopper hides from predators by mimicking a dry leaf

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  WWII tank concealed in Operation Bertram by mimicking a truck

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  Armed WW1 Q-ship lured enemy submarines by mimicking a merchantman

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  Cuckoo adult mimics sparrowhawk, giving female time to lay eggs parasitically

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  Cuckoo eggs mimicking smaller eggs, in this case of reed warbler

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  Wrap-around spider Dolophones mimicking a stick

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  USS West Mahomet in dazzle camouflage

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  Siege howitzer camouflaged against observation from the air, 1917

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  Austro-Hungarian ski patrol in two-part snow uniforms with improvised head camouflage on Italian front, 1915-1918

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  Maritime patrol Catalina, painted white to minimise visibility against the sky

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  1937 summer variant of Waffen SS Flecktarn Plane tree pattern

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  USS Duluth in naval camouflage Measure 32, Design 11a, one of many dazzle schemes used on warships

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  A Spitfire's underside 'azure' paint scheme, meant to hide it against the sky

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  A Luftwaffe aircraft hangar built to resemble a street of village houses, Belgium, 1944

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  Red Army soldiers in the Battle of Stalingrad in snow camouflage overalls, January 1943

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  CADPAT was the first pixellated digital camouflage pattern to be issued, in 2002.

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  British Disruptive Pattern Material, issued to special forces in 1963 and universally by 1968

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  2007 2-colour snow variant of Finnish Defence Forces M05 pattern

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  Modern German Flecktarn 1990, developed from a 1938 pattern, a non-digital pattern which works at different distances

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  US "Chocolate Chip" Six-Color Desert Pattern developed in 1962, widely used in Gulf War

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  André Mare's Cubist sketch, c. 1917, of a 280 calibre gun illustrates the interplay of art and war, as artists like Mare contributed their skills as wartime camoufleurs.

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  Camouflage clothing in an anti-war protest, 1971

See also

In Spanish: Camuflaje para niños