Camouflage
Camouflage is an adaptation that allows an animal to blend into its surroundings. It is used both by predators (to sneak up on prey) and prey (to hide from predators).
Types of Camouflage
Background matching — The animal's colour and pattern matches its surroundings. Examples:
- Stick insects look exactly like twigs
- Snowshoe hares are brown in summer and white in winter, matching the season
- Flatfish (like flounders) change colour to match the sandy or rocky seabed
Disruptive colouration — Bold patterns like stripes or patches break up the outline of the body, making it hard to see the animal's shape. Example: zebra stripes make it difficult for lion to pick out a single zebra from a herd.
Countershading — Many fish and sharks are dark on top and pale on the bottom. From above, the dark back blends with the deep water; from below, the pale belly blends with the bright sky.
The cuttlefish has the most sophisticated camouflage of any animal — it can change colour AND texture in less than a second, using millions of colour-containing cells (chromatophores) and muscles that raise bumps on its skin. It does this even though it is colour-blind.
Mimicry
Mimicry is when one species evolves to look like another species (or object) to gain a survival advantage.
Batesian mimicry — A harmless species copies the warning colours of a dangerous species.
- Example: the hoverfly (harmless) has yellow and black stripes, mimicking the wasp (which can sting). Predators avoid it.
Müllerian mimicry — Two or more genuinely dangerous species share similar warning colours, so predators learn to avoid all of them faster.
- Example: Many different species of poisonous dart frogs in South America share similar bright orange or red patterns.
Aggressive mimicry — A predator or parasite mimics something harmless to get close to prey.
- Example: The anglerfish has a glowing lure that attracts smaller fish — and then eats them.
Bright, bold colours (red, yellow, black) in nature often signal danger — poison, venom, or a bad taste. This warning colouration is called aposematism. Mimics copy these colours to "borrow" the warning without being dangerous themselves.
Real world: Hoverflies in the garden
In summer gardens, you will often see striped yellow-and-black insects hovering over flowers. Many of these are harmless hoverflies, not wasps. They are Batesian mimics — their wasp-like colouring deters birds and other predators that have learned to avoid wasp stings, even though hoverflies cannot sting at all.
Real world: Animal camouflage at a zoo or in nature photos
Many nature documentaries and zoo visitors are amazed when a stick insect or leaf insect is pointed out — they are virtually invisible against twigs and leaves. This background matching is so effective that people walk past them without noticing. Similarly, the flounder fish on the ocean floor changes colour and texture to match sand or gravel within seconds.
Real world: Zebra stripes in wildlife parks
When you see zebras in a wildlife documentary or safari park, their stripes look bold and obvious. But in a moving herd on the African savanna, the overlapping patterns of dozens of animals create visual confusion for predators like lions, making it difficult to single out one individual to chase — this is disruptive colouration in action.
Where do you see this in real life? Look carefully at moths resting on tree bark in a garden or woodland — many are nearly invisible because their wing patterns match the bark perfectly. Also notice garden birds that are brown or speckled on top (camouflage from above) and pale underneath (countershading).