What kind of camouflage

The disused termite mounds that they use as dens have narrow tunnels which the hyena cubs scurry into at the first sign of danger Newborn African wild dog puppies hide at the entrance to their den, also a disused and excavated termite mound.

Darker colours and markings set closer together compared to the adults help them to be well camouflaged in the shadows This black-backed jackal pup is a lighter colour than its parents to camouflage it against the light sand Ostrich chicks which are far more vulnerable to predation than the adults, have concealing colouration but also mottling patterns of the plumage — which is called cryptic colouration While this male African paradise flycatcher has vivid breeding colours, his nest is very well camouflaged, so his eggs and chicks can avoid predation.

In addition to small twigs, the birds make use of spiderwebs to further help with nest camouflage. Many birds eggs themselves are also cryptically camouflaged, especially the nests of ground-living birds that do not use nests Ground-living spiders such as this golden starburst baboon spider are well camouflaged to their environment, using cryptic camouflage.

Note the silk-lined burrow to the right of this large female The African scops owl is cryptically coloured to help it to blend into its environment, especially when sleeping during the day. Its mottled plumage imitates the bark of a tree, and its ear tufts are raised, making it look like a broken branch How beautifully does the African scops owl camouflage against the bark of this tree!

Photo credit: Neil Coetzer Counter- shading Counter-shading is a type of concealing colouration used by animals with a darker upper half, and a lighter lower half. The impala is a common example of counter-shading colouration. Their upper backs are tawny-brown, their sides are cream, and their bellies are white.

This dorsoventral change in contrast breaks up the three dimensional form of the impala, helping it to blend into its environment This young spotted bush snake shows counter-shading in its dark upper side and light belly, as well as concealing camouflage using green to match to its tree habitat, and disruptive camouflage using spots.

When aerial predators such as a bush shrike views the snake from above, its dark upper is camouflaged well against the shaded green depths of trees and bushes. Viewed from below by predators such as bigger snakes, their light underside camouflages them against the brighter sky Note: Spotted bush snakes are harmless to humans, but there are many green coloured snakes that are venomous. From above, these juvenile Mozambique tilapia are well camouflaged against the sand.

If they remain still, they are all but invisible to predators such as herons and storks Young Mozambique tilapia showing counter-shading and banding Disruptive colouration In addition to background matching colouration, many animals also have distinctive designs on their bodies to help to conceal them.

Animals that live in groups use different camouflage tactics to those that live alone. However this is a method of camouflage and avoiding predation. The stripes firstly break up the animals body outline. Remember that most mammalian predators are colourblind. The stripes mimic the other vertical lines in the bush such as grass, branches and trees.

When threatened and running away from a predator, zebras move together as a herd, which at speed looks like a blur of black and white. This makes it difficult for a predator to single out one target From birth, a zebra foal has long, gangly legs.

This is so it can keep up with the herd soon after birth, but also for camouflage. When standing next to its mother, their legs are the same length, so the little one is well hidden from predators Leopards are masters of camouflage. Can you see it? The rosetted coat pattern of the leopard is the perfect disruptive camouflage to help it almost disappear into its habitat, whether on the ground or high in a tree Even sitting on a rock, the spotted coat breaks up the outline of the body, making the leopard very difficult to make out Can you find the leopard now?!

Look in the middle of the photo to see a few leopard spots! Leopard cubs have spots that are close together giving them a mottled appearance, therefore helping them to camouflage in dark areas such as this cave, where they stay hidden while mom is away hunting This photo is in black and white to show what a prey animal would see.

Now you can see how difficult it would be to detect a leopard in the grass. This young leopard is resting, but when hunting, a leopard would crouch down hiding most of its body, especially those large dark rosettes at the back, and even flatten its ears down The spotted coats of this female cheetah and her three youngsters allow them to blend well into their environment and be almost invisible to prey or enemies The brown and grey concealing colouration in this female kudu is further aided by white vertical stripes on her side.

Agamas are able to change their body colour much like chameleons, but the range of colour is not great. Males turn brightly coloured during the breeding season — most noticeably a bright blue head — but can turn quickly back into camouflage colours when under threat Another Southern tree agama, perfectly camouflaged on a leadwood tree Nightjars are nocturnal birds that display disruptive colouration with variegated colouring.

On night safaris you often come across nightjars sitting in the road hawking insects, however during the day when they rest they choose a location on the ground with a background that makes them almost invisible. There is even research to suggest that each individual bird chooses a specific substrate to suit its own unique colour patterns A red crested korhaan blending well into the undergrowth with its mottled plumage A pair of double-banded sandgrouse — the male has the black and white facial bands.

These ground birds characteristically crouch low to the ground when disturbed, using excellent disruptive camouflage on their backs to avoid detection.

If feeling immediately threatened they will both explosively take off and fly for some distance Most waterbirds and ground birds match their environment very well to avoid detection. This water thicknee blends in well with the dry grass and sand of its riverbank habitat Disguise Disguise and mimicry are very similar, however with disguise, the animal copies a non-living thing such as a leaf or twig, and with mimicry, it copies another living animal.

Adult crocodiles do not have many enemies, but they are well camouflaged in order to swim close to prey in the water or on the waters edge. Their olive green-coloured body and its design can make the crocodile look like a log in the water, especially when swimming through vegetation. Their body is designed to hardly make any ripples, and the eyes and nostrils are on top of the head, leaving the rest of the body underwater to avoid detection This stick mantid perfectly resembles a small twig in its environment, which would help it to be overlooked by predators This praying mantis has colours that resemble a living leaf or small branch.

This would tell you that the two mantids pictured here and above have slightly different habitats to mimic two different parts of the environment. This mantid probably lives in trees, and the one above on the ground among dead twigs and leaf litter Can you see the snake? The vine snake or twig snake is disguised to look like a branch and uses this camouflage to avoid detection by predators and to ambush its prey A close up of the head of the vine snake showing the beautiful colouration.

This snake has also puffed its neck up to make itself appear larger, in order to scare enemies away. The African monarch butterfly has aposematic colouring to warn predators that it is poisonous. The caterpillar stage feeds on milkweed plants that are toxic and if injested, can kill small birds. They all have red-orange wings with black spots to advertise that they are all poisonous.

This pearl-spotted owlet is a hunter, but due to its tiny stature, also has many enemies of its own. Apart of its disruptive colouration camouflage, it also has eye spots on the back of its head see below Predators are reluctant to attack a prey animal when they think they have been seen. The false eyes on the back of the pearl-spotted owlets head make it look like it is always facing forward This mopane moth has two sets of false eyes on its fore- and rear wings.

These eye spots will draw a predators attention away from the vital head area The beautiful eye spots of the cream-striped owl moth. This striking design makes the moth look like a much larger, scarier animal such as an owl, and the predator may ignore it There is a theory that cheetah cubs are born with the same black and white markings of the honey badger see inset in order to imitate the more ferocious creature. Mortality of cheetah cubs is extremely high, so with this mimicry and aposematic colouration, a predator looking at a cheetah cub might think twice before attacking it Aposematic colouration Aposematic colouration is the advertising by an animal to a predator that it is not worth attacking.

Elegant grasshoppers use bright aposematic colouration as a warning they they are poisonous if eaten. They get their toxins from the plants that they eat, and can contain a number of different poisons. Photo credit: Chiswick Chap The algae growing on this crab helps it blend in with its environment in shallow waters. Photo credit: Brocken Inaglory.

Some animals have the ability to change their colors and patterns to help them blend in with their surroundings. Animals such as octopuses and flounder fish can quickly change their appearance. Other animals change colors with the season. This seasonal variation helps them blend in with the environment at different times throughout the year. Here are some examples of active camouflage:. Certain types of octupus can change the color and pattern of their skin by controlling the size of their cells.

Photo credit: gpparker Chameleons change the colors and patterns on their body to help regulate their body temperature and to send signals to other chameleons, but the colors and patterns can also help them blend in with their surroundings. Photo credit: Hannes de Geest The Artic hare grows different colored fur depending on the season.

In the summer, its fur is brown or grey. Photo credit: Charles Anderson The Arctic fox is another animal that grows different colored fur depending on the time of year to help it blend in with its surroundings. Photo credit: Mark Dumont.

Mimesis is when an object appears to be something that its not. Photo credit: Antony Stanley The oakleaf butterfly closely resembles a dead leaf to disguise itself from hungry birds. Photo credit: Marcin Wichary The katydid is another type of insect that closely resembles a leaf.

Photo credit: Alan Madrid The cloudless sulphur might be difficult to spot in the fall since it mimics the color and pattern of yellow leaves. Photo credit: Jon Fife. This color change lasts through the spring and summer. The Gray Treefrog - Hyla versicolor , has several methods of camouflage — it blends in well, mimics tree bark, and can change color! At a time in Science which seems not to appreciate nature but rather electronics and robotics how great it is to see pictures of unbelievable nature.

It is from nature that we receive the absolute essentials of life. It is from nature that school children learn to appreciate the uniqueness of all organisms. It is from these studies that we learn to appreciate that all life matters. Digital is not necessarily pixelated camouflage — a wide misconception! In fact, digital patterns are those which are computer and algorithm based.

There have been pixelated patterns long before Canada started issuing pixelated uniforms in the late s. One of the lesser known patterns in Europe, this has its origins in the American M spot camouflage of WW2. Used mainly in the war in the Pacific, its descendants can be found in Asia, but also Latin- and South America. The result of the Bundeswehr Truppenversuch 76, it is not only a trademark of Germany, but also led to several similar designs in Belgium, China, Denmark and Poland.

These are quite unique, especially when considering that several came up independently in the 20th century. Starting with Belgium, but also the Philippines and Yugoslavia. Later onwards Warsaw Pact countries used the vertical lines on solid colour, creating visual noise and being very effective against night vision devices.

Image source: articlereform. While Switzerland used it until , it was also the initial camouflage of the German Bundeswehr and Bundesgrenzschutz. There are several variations in Bulgaria and the Swedish M90 is the most modern variant today. Quickly becoming something of its own, it can be found in various jungle environments.

In the early s a new phase of camouflage development started, not only in terms of pixelated designs, but also to the approach of camouflage itself. All of a sudden several companies started to either participate in the solicitation, or to cash in on the newly developing market for camouflage. Crye made the cut no pun intended , but the finalisation of the contract ceased, because of licensing fees for the printing.

As a result, the US Army went back to the original Scorpion pattern, and did the same thing Crye did before: change it just enough to prevent legal repercussions. Scorpion W2 was born. And even though new camouflage designs with different approaches still enter the market, the actual dominance of Multicam and its derivatives is unbroken. As a matter of fact, just in terms of popularity and widespread use, you could compare it to M81 Woodland.

Even the Russian special forces community is embracing the pattern.