Whenever I see tanks driving or Army soldiers walking down the street I look at their camouflage jackets, hats and paint jobs wondering how on earth they manage to “blend in” with such oddly coloured paint schemes. But it is exactly the same for animals or more importantly…cats…
BONUS CONTENT: Top 10 Facts About Camouflage
10 – A work in progress.
FACT: Complete with fake leaf stalk, fake leaf veins, and perfect dead-leaf colouring, leaf butterflies camouflage their whole body!
9 – Inbred or invisible?!?
FACT: In order to hide from their prey, gaboon vipers make the most of their brownish-Gray, mottled scales. These big snakes hide in the layer of dead leaves that carpets the African rain forest floors.
8 – They will suspect nothing!
FACT: The flower mantis of western Africa uses colourful, pistil-and-stamen-like camouflage to trick smaller insects into smelling the roses.
7 – Colours are not important if you use your environment!
FACT: The ornate wobbegong is a shark whose body flattens out on the seafloor where its spots and blotchy lines resemble rock and coral.
6 – Become one with your surroundings is the key to blending in.
FACT: Bark bugs hang out on trees around the world in order to hide in the middle of nature’s birdhouses and appear to be part of the tree itself.
5 – “If I move they might see me!”
FACT: Arctic owls have a coat of snow-white feathers to keep them warm and safe from predators, such as foxes and wolves.
4 – A good effort indeed, given the difficult environment!
FACT: There are hundreds of species of turtles and tortoises that use camouflage to blind-side their prey and hide from large predators like alligators.
3 – “Always use natural debris to merge with the local surroundings.”
FACT: By blending into the blindingly white snow of the Arctic with equally white fur coats, polar bears avoid much of the human danger.
2 – “Cow colours can’t work as camouflage eh!”
FACT: Rabbits, young buffalo, and monkeys don’t stand a chance when a hidden leopard makes a surprise attack.
1 – Who needs Harry Potters cloak!
FACT: Contrary to popular belief, chameleons only change colour when in imminent danger. Their everyday skin colour is light khaki.