Camouflage

About me: My name is Sean William Glen Steele, im in Mr. Thompsons 4th hour naturalists class. I enjoy alot of different stuff, mostly music ( i have great taste) and some sports like snowboarding, football, and paintball.

Camouflage: Mimicry and camouflage are the practices used by many animals in nature to conceal or hide themselves from predators or to blend in with their environment. It can be used many different ways, in skin color, sound, appearance, and acting. Skin color can be used as a great form of camouflage in the case of some crabs and fish. Though the two sometimes use two different types of camouflage, there is natural and cryptic coloration, they are used for the same purpose. Natural is when an animal can use parts of the environment around it on or around it's own body to blend in with the local plant life or other naturally occurring objects. Cryptic coloration is the most common form of camouflage, when an animal is born with or develops the ability to blend in with the environment because of the pigment of it's skin. Examples of these, are some crabs that allow large amounts of algae to grow on their shells to hide themselves and some fish that are born to mimic the color of the surrounding coral or plant life.

A primary defense against predators throughout the animal kingdom (and against the enemy during human warfare) is to avoid detection through camouflage. Achieving effective camouflage requires a process of actions by an animal:

1. sensing the local environment (including the animals in it)
2. filtering the sensory input
3. using selected sensory input to make a behavior decision
4. directing the appropriate effectors (be they muscles/postures/color patterns, etc.) to achieve some form of camouflage,and implementing the appropriate behavior to render the camouflage effective.

At least six mechanisms of camouflage are recognized by biologists:
general background resemblance
deceptive resemblance (including mimicry)
disruptive coloration
countershading/concealment of the shadow
rarity through polymorphism
cryptic behavior and vigilance

An interesting feature of some cephalopods is that some of the individual animals in the group can change their appearance faster than most other animals in the animal kingdom it's sometimes called “rapid, neurally controlled polymorphism.” Some squids, octopuses and cuttlefish can show 30-50 different appearances. These marine invertebrates show most aspects of their behavior through body patterning. This adaptation is really interesting because of the speed and the amount of different patterns and body colouration's these specific animals can display. The best reason for this ability is to quickly use other defense mechanisms and hide from predators.

Some camouflages are not so quick to occur however, some take generations to perfect and get right. A prime example of this generational camouflage is the case of the peppered moth. The peppered moth has been an example for industrial melanism for ages, it has been such a good example because of it's changing from a lighter shaded moth to a darker shade to blend in with the soot on the walls of it's environment. The idea behind this is that around the time of the industrial revolution soot would settle on walls making them a darker color, the light moths would not blend in with the new surroundings so it generally started to become darker to blend in.

Some of the best organisms at camouflage are insects and bugs. Many different types of insect, spiders, and other bugs are born with the natural skin tones to blend in with their natural surroundings, such as the walking stick, and praying mantis, both live in heavily wooded areas so, they are born with skin colors and pattern that make them nearly indistinguishable in their natural surroundings. Other examples of this camouflage can be found in different beetles, spiders, and flying insects. Butterflies can be an amazing example of using their natural body coloration's to blend in, and even sometimes scare away predators.

It is a safe bet that many many species of animals and other organisms would not still be around today, or would be severely endangered if it were not for camouflage. OK these don't have to count towards my words unless you want to be my favorite teacher ever and go ahead and count them, but if there is a problem with the way my article looks or is formatted, it's most likely because my computer is old and out dated to the point of spontaneous combustion.

Wikkipedia

how stuff works, animal camouflage

Camouflage in animals

animal pictures

Bookrags