P3 Science Project 2 Animal Camouflage

MBS P3 Science Project 2
Animal Camouflage

By: Poh Jun Kai, Nigel
Class 3G

Co n t e n t s

 I n t r o d u c t i o n

 Gr o u p s o f a n i ma l

 Ho w d o a n i ma l s
c a mo u f l a g e ?

 Co n c l u s i o n

Introduction
• Most animals use camouflage
to blend in with their
environment
• Some animals change colour
• Some animals mimic other
things
• Animals that camouflaged
have a much better chance of
survival
• They are less likely to be eaten
if they are hard to find

Introduction
• There are 4 types of camouflage
• Concealing
• Animals that use the same colouring as their
environment. Eg, many animals in the Arctic
have white colouring to blend in with the snow
that surrounds them
• Disguise
• Animals that blend in with their surroundings.
An insect that looks like a branch or leaf is
using a costume to hide from predators. If it
actually looks like the object on which it stays,
then it is using disguise to fool its predators or
prey.
• Disruptive Coloration
• Animals that break up their outline so they do
not stick out. These animals have spots,
stripes, or other patterns to break up its outline
so it doesn't stick out against the background.
Animals like zebras, leopards, and tigers use
this type of camouflage
• Mimicry
• Pretending to be what you are not. Usually
involves looking or acting like another animal
that is either poisonous or bad tasting to avoid
getting attacked or eaten.

Groups of animal
Animals

Mammals Birds Reptiles Fishes Insects Amphibians

NEWT

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Click on the animal icon to learn more about how the animal camouflage

Mammals – Leopards
Camouflage Method: Disruptive Coloration

• Leopards are fast runners, good
swimmers and excellent tree
climbers.
• They have spots that blend in
well with the background or
environment like the one shown
in the picture.
• Leopards are masters of
camouflage and they move
silently through the vegetation
to attack their prey at very close
quarters.

Mammals – Giraffes

• Giraffes are good at camouflage. They
know how to blend into their
surroundings when they feel threatened
or in danger.
• Their camouflage is very good at
concealing them from the casual passer
by, be they human or some other kind
of animal.
• Look at the picture on the right. Can
you tell at first glance that there is a
Giraffe standing in front of the tree?
• Press the <Space Bar> to see where is
the Giraffe.

Mammals – Lions
Camouflage Method: Concealing
• Lion's coats are perfect camouflage
in the grassland of Savannah of
Africa for sneaking up on their
prey.
• They will sneak up to their prey as
close as they can as a group.
• Some in the group will charge at
their victim, while the others cut
off their escape. But often they do
not get close enough so they have
to run them down.
• Be careful! The lion is watching
you now!!!

Mammals – Polar Bears
• A polar bear is a big, fat, white bear
that lives in the North Pole.
• Most of them live where the ice that
surrounds the North Pole breaks apart
during the summer.
• They live along northern coasts of
Canada, Greenland, and the Soviet
Union.
• They hunt seals and other kinds of
animals for food.
• They have white fur which
camouflage them when hunting on
land because their environment is
mostly white.

Mammals – Antelopes
• The general coat colour of the antelope is
reddish brown, with the back darker than
the flanks and legs.
• It is primarily active during the evening
and night, sleeping the rest of the day in a
shady, sheltered area.
• This shy animal has excellent camouflage,
which they use to their advantage. The
colour of their coat blends in well with the
environment.
• When danger starts to approach, the
antelope freezes, remaining hidden until
the threat is nearly on top of them, at
which point it leaps up and dodges around
bushes and shrubs, quickly vanishing into
the undergrowth.

Mammals – Zebras
• Did you know that every Zebra has a
different pattern of stripes?
• It is hard to believe, but each and every
zebra has its own unique colouring.
• Zebras use camouflage to trick their
predators. You may think that it is easy to
see zebras because their stripes are so
unusual.
• If you were to look across the grasslands at
noon, you would be able to see a whole
herd of zebras as plain as day.
• When the sun starts to go down, though,
their stripes blend in with the dark sky
making them really hard to see.
• Since lions and other predators like to do
their hunting at dusk, this crazy pattern of
stripes helps the zebra survive.

Birds – Owls
• Most owls have feathers of the colours
and even the patterns of tree bark to
camouflage them.
• This protects them while they sleep both
from predators and from harassment by
outraged prey species.
• Many species of songbirds will join
together to harass any owl they discover
during the day. This is called mobbing.
• Birds know that most owls are silent,
stealthy night hunters, and not quick
daylight hunters, so birds will get close
to them and scold them loudly to warn
other birds about the presence of a
predator as well as to annoy the owl so
that it will flies away to find a quieter
place to sleep.

Birds – Emus
• The emu is the largest bird in Australia,
and the second largest in the world after
the ostrich.
• Emus have long necks, sharp beaks and
small ears. They have two sets of eyelids,
one for blinking and one to keep out the
dust. Their feet are long, with three toes.
One toe on each foot has a long talon, for
fighting.
• Emus have unusual feathers - if you look
closely you can see not one but two central
stems, with widely spaced "branches".
• This gives the feathers a shaggy
appearance, more like long hair than
feathers. Because emus do not fly, they
have no need for smooth, sleek feathers -
theirs are for warmth and camouflage
only.

Birds – Green Parrots
• Some birds have bright colour
feathers which is good for
concealment from predators.
• An example is the green parrots.
Their green coloured feathers help
them to camouflage themselves
very well in the trees.
• Let’s see how good are their
camouflage skills. How many
parrots can you find in the picture
on the right?
• Press the <Space Bar> to see the
answer.

Birds – Willow Ptarmigan
• The Willow Ptarmigan is a stocky
northern relative of grouse and
chickens. The hen ptarmigan is so well
camouflaged, you might be looking
right at her and never know it.
• Top picture: The camouflaged Willow
Ptarmigan makes the bird invisible to
most predators.
• Bottom picture: When a predator
approaches the nest too closely, the
Willow Ptarmigan burst off the nest in a
flurry of feathers and begins a
distraction display. This has the effect
of startling the predator and diverting its
attention away from the nest.

Birds – Tawny Frogmouth
Camouflage Method: Concealing/Disguise
• Tawny Frogmouth is an unusual name;
but it's a very unusual Australian bird.
Masters of camouflage, the Tawny
Frogmouth blends in perfectly in bush
surroundings.
• Their camouflage is excellent — staying
very still and upright, they look just like
part of the branch. Even when possibly
threatened, they'll sit very still.
• Tawny Frogmouths hunt at night and
spend the day roosting on a dead log or
tree branch close to the tree trunk. The
Tawny Frogmouth feeds on rats, mice,
cicadas, beetles, frogs and other small
prey.
• Tawny Frogmouth pairs stay together
until one of the pair dies.

Birds – American Bitterns
Camouflage Method: Concealing/Mimicry
• The American bittern is a medium-sized
wading bird that is 23-34 inches in
length with a wingspan of three feet.
• It is dark brown on its uppersides and its
underparts are streaked with brown, tan
and white.
• It has a pointed yellow bill, long legs
and a black stripe on the side of its
throat. Males and females look alike.
• The American bitterns are masters of
camouflage. Their striped plumage
perfectly imitates surrounding
vegetation, and they conceal themselves
by freeze holding their heads and necks
upward at an angle that mimics the
reeds.

Reptiles – Iguanas
• Iguanas are large reptiles. They are
part of the lizard family.
• There are many different species
(kinds) of iguana, such as Green
Iguanas, Fijian Banded Iguanas and
Fijian Crested Iguanas.
• They protect themselves from
enemies using their colour to
camouflage themselves.
• If they are attacked on land they
use their tails as a weapon.
• Can you spot the iguana on the
bottom picture?
• Press the <Space Bar> to see the
answer.

Reptiles – Geckos
• Geckos are the only lizards that have a
voice. Some species of geckos make a
squeaking or clicking noise that sounds
like "gecko," hence their name.
• Most geckos are nocturnal (they are most
active at night); they have large eyes and
excellent vision.
• Most geckos have sticky toe pads which
allow them to climb well, even on smooth
surfaces or upside down.
• When a gecko is caught by its tail, it
releases the tail, which twitches for a
while, allowing the gecko to escape
capture. The gecko will later grow another
tail.
• Geckos are incredible masters of disguise
and are practically unnoticeable to the
passer-by. The colour of their skin blend
well with the environment. Can you spot
the Gecko in the bottom picture?
• Press the <Space Bar> for the gecko.

Reptiles – Snakes
• Snakes are great at camouflaging
themselves in dense vegetation. In
reality just about anywhere you go in
dense tropical habitats, there are many
snakes around you. But how often do
you actually see the snakes?
• They are difficult to see because most
snakes are "sit and wait" predators but
also because they have great markings
to help them hide from predators and
prey.
• Not only can snakes blend in with their
environment, but they can also copy
other snakes.
• Some snakes pretend to be venomous
snakes through their coloration (milk
snakes mimic coral snakes), others
mimic actions of venomous snakes (tail
vibrating of rattlesnakes).

Reptiles – Tortoises
• Tortoises to my surprised are land-
dwelling reptile of the family of
Testudinidae.
• Generally, tortoises move very slowly
on dry land and hence they must use
concealment as well as mimicry to
protect themselves against predators.
• When tortoises move inside their
shell, they use mimicry to imitate a
rock.
• They also use camouflage because
when it mimics a rock, its shell is
sometimes of distinct colour and
pattern of the rock which allow them
to blend into the environment.
• How many tortoises can you find in
the bottom picture?
• Press the <Space Bar> to find out.

Reptiles – Crocodiles
• Unlike most of the animals that
camouflaged themselves to prevent
being seen and eaten, crocodiles
camouflage themselves to catch their
prey using the element of surprise.
• Crocodiles sit camouflaged and
motionless in the water waiting for prey
to come to them.
• Their eyes and nostrils are high on their
head so the rest of their body can be
hidden under water. When prey is only
a short distance away the crocodile
quickly snaps its muscular jaws around
the prey and drags it below the water to
drown and consume it.
• Wow! This is really a scary animal to
get close to!

Reptiles – Chameleons
• Chameleons are one of the most famous
creatures for camouflage since they can
change colors to match their
backgrounds or surroundings.
• Chameleons' mastery of camouflage
goes further than anyone expected - it
seems they can fine-tune their colour
changes to the visual systems of specific
predators. Take a look at the bottom
picture and you will know what I meant.
• The ability of chameleons to change
colour stems from special cells called
chromatophores found in the upper
layers of their skin. These cells are
filled with different kinds of pigment.

Fishes – Flounder Fish
• Flounders are flatfish that can evolve into
different sizes. They have fins across the
upper parts and underneath their bodies.
They resemble a flat, circular ball with fins
circling around. These fish are normally
brown in colour, but can acquire a variety
of colours like red, orange, green and blue.
• Depending on the home ground of
flounder fish, they uses colours and shapes
on its skin to mimic the sand and pebbles
on the floor of the waters where it lives.
Flounder may also cover themselves
partially with the sand and gravel in order
to hide more effectively. They can also
change the color of their skin to match the
color of the sediment.
• Most species have outward-bulging eyes
that move as they watch for predators or
prey.

Fishes – Crabs
• A crab is a small sea creature that lives in
shells and they don’t move very fast. All
crabs have eight walking legs and two claws.
There are many types of crab that come in
many different kind of colours.
• Hairy crabs’ hair helps them when they see
an enemy. First, they find seaweed. Then
they blend in with it. When blending in, the
enemy usually doesn’t notice it is there.
• Coral crabs defend themselves by using
anemones. These are soft sea creatures which
have stinging tentacles. To defend itself, the
crab picks up the anemone and waves it in the
air so that the attacker can see it. This usually
makes the attacker scurry away because it
doesn’t want to get stung.
• The spider crab is a slow-walking scavenger.
Harmless to humans and not particularly
aggressive in general, the spider crab's main
defence against predators is camouflage: the
hook-like hairs on the crab's shell hold algae
and other small debris in place.

Fishes – Octopuses
• Being soft bodied (lacking an external shell
or internal skeleton), octopuses make a
perfect meal for predators, particularly larger
fishes, sharks or seals.
• Many octopuses take advantage of their lack
of skeleton by squeezing themselves through
tiny holes.
• Octopuses have developed exceptional
camouflage capacities which produce
elaborate colour patterns and highly complex
skin textures capable of matching a wide
range of backgrounds from sand and reef
rubble, through to spiked corals and
seaweeds. Their skin changes almost
instantaneously as they move over different
substrates on the sea floor.
• As a backup defence, most octopuses also
have an ink sac that produces highly
concentrated black, red or brown pigment to
produce either a dummy decoy or, in some
species, a full smoke screen that can mask a
volume of water up to several cubic metres,
leaving predators chasing their own tails.

Fishes – Cuttlefishes
• Cuttlefish have the ability to change
colour very rapidly, making them
extremely good at natural camouflage.
They can change colour in less than a
second.
• Cuttlefish also use colour to signal
emotions such as anger and fear. They
will flush deep red when agitated and
then change to a mottled sand colour as
natural camouflage so they can
disappear into the surroundings.
• If natural camouflage fails, the
cuttlefish shoots ink out at the attackers.
The sepia ink may be produced as a
mucus-bound blob or as a large cloud.
• Sepia ink ejection is usually followed
by a rapid colour change to confuse the
pursuer.
• Do you know the sepia ink was once
used in printing, art and photography?

Fishes – Leaf Fishes
Camouflage Method: Mimicry
• The leaf fish has a thin leaf-like body.
Several colour varieties exist (red,
yellow, white, pink, black).
• This fish is camouflaged to mimic a
dead leaf/debris, both in body shape
and pattern. It can also change colour
to match its surroundings. When
hunting, it stalks its prey in a head-
down stance, appearing to drift
towards it like a dead leaf drifting in
the water current. In reality the fish is
propelled by tiny movements of its
transparent hind fins.
• When it strikes at an item of prey, the
entire mouth protrudes outwards,
forming a tube into which the prey is
sucked, usually head first. This
happens so quickly it is often difficult
to see. It can swallow prey almost as
big as itself in this way.

Fishes – Stone Fishes
• The stone fish is a mottled brown-
greenish in colour (which gives them
camouflage) with many venomous
spines along its back.
• The stone fish is extremely difficult to
see because it usually buries most of its
body under sand or rubble and only
their widely separated eyes show. Often
algae and hydroids grow on its back.
• It is a truly amazing fish. It simply sits
around rocks on coral reefs, waits for a
tasty fish or shrimp to pass, then gulps it
down in less than 1 second.
• Unfortunately, the stonefish is the most
poisonous fish in the world. The spines
on their body will sting.
• The spines are so strong that they will
even pierce your shoe. The poison is
extremely painful, causing the body to
go numb, and often leading to death by
heart failure.

Insects – Cicadas
• Cicadas are insects with big eyes wide
apart on the head and usually have
transparent, well-veined wings. They
usually blend in with their environment to
hide away from predators.
• Cicadas live in temperate to tropical
climates where they are one of the most
widely recognized of all insects, mainly
due to their large size and remarkable
acoustic talents.
• Cicadas do not bite or sting, are benign to
humans, and are not considered a pest.
• Many people around the world regularly
complement their standard diet with
cicadas. Cicadas have been eaten (or are
still being eaten) in Greece, China,
Malaysia, Burma, Australia, Latin
America and Congo.
• Cicadas are employed in the traditional
medicines of China and Japan for hearing-
related problems.

Insects – Grasshoppers
• There are 2 types of grasshoppers. These
are short-horned grasshoppers which have
short antennae and
long-horned grasshoppers which have long
antenna.
• Grasshoppers live in most parts of the
world, except very cold places.
Grasshoppers have compound eyes. They
usually lives in grass to hide from enemies
and mimic the vegetation which they live
in.
• Locust is the swarming phase of short-
horned grasshoppers. They are species that
can breed rapidly under suitable conditions
and subsequently become gregarious and
migratory. They form bands as nymphs
and swarms as adults—both of which can
travel great distances, rapidly stripping
fields and greatly damaging crops.

Insects – Mantis
• The mantis has colour or patterns that blend
in with the environment that they lived in.
Some even evolved into certain shape and
size so as to mimic it’s surround like the
leaves so that they are extremely hard to
detect.
• A very common type of mantis is the Praying
Mantis. Besides blending into the
environment, they defend themselves against
predators by standing up tall, raising its large
front legs and open its wings to look as big as
possible.
• If that does not work the mantis either flies
away quickly or it delivers a powerful punch
with its hooked hand.
• When the Chinese saw the Praying Mantis
defending itself, they created Praying Mantis
Kung Fu. It is a style of martial arts that
mimics the attacks and movements of a
Praying Mantis. Interesting, isn’t it?

Insects – Moth
• Moth like most insects uses
concealing method of camouflage to
hide away from sharp-eyed predators
like birds.
• While many moths have the colour
and patterns of tree bark, some moths
are almost perfect match for its
chosen background of a cement patio.
• Depending of the environment, some
moths may evolved to mimic the
environment like the dead leaf moth.
• Look at the Top Left picture. Do you
think you can spot the dead leaf
moth?
• Press the <Space Bar> to find out.

Insects – Walking Stick/Leaf Insect
• Walking sticks and Walking leaf
insect come in all sorts of strange
shapes and sizes. They often match
their surrounding habitat, looking
like sticks, tree bark or leaves.
• Walking sticks and Walking leaves
are mainly protected from their
predators and natural enemies using
plant mimicry. They can also play
dead.
• Can you find them in the pictures
on the right?
• Press the <Space Bar> to reveal
them.

Insects – Butterflies
• Butterflies use camouflage as an
effective survival strategy. Butterflies
that might find tasty are well
camouflaged or just drab to blend in
when they are resting on a tree trunk or
rocky ground.
• Some develop spots to frighten or
distract predators like birds, Some have,
"eye spots" on their wings that look like
eyes of a larger animal.
• Some species have bright spots near the
tail that draw the predator's attention
away from the head.
• Many butterflies have chunks missing
from their hind wings which made the
predator avoid attacking the butterflies
head, which would be fatal.
• Brightly coloured butterflies are either
poisonous or mimics of a poisonous
butterfly.

Amphibians – Green Tree Frogs
• The cute Green Tree Frog is one of
Australia’s largest and best known
frogs.
• It has golden eyes with a horizontal
black pupil that spans the eye ball.
Their colour can vary from a bright
green to an olive brown on the back
with a creamy white belly. The colour
can change to match the colour of its
surrounds giving this frog excellent
camouflage.
• The Green Tree Frog has large flat
finger and toe discs that help it to grip
when living in trees and climbing. It
often hangs on the underside of leaves
trying to stay safe from predators. The
feet are more webbed than the hands.

Amphibians – Dead Leaf Mimic Frogs
• Some frogs mimic the
environment that they lived in. An
example is the dead leaf mimic
frog.
• This frog lives among the dead
leaves of the forest bed. To
survive and protect itself, the
colour of the body blend into the
dead leaves.
• In addition, the frog mimic the
shape, size and patterns of the
dead leaf.
• Can you spot the dead leaf mimic
frog on the left picture?
• Press the <Space Bar> to find the
dead leaf frog.

Amphibians – Salamanders
• Salamanders are four-legged amphibians
that have a long tail and short legs.
The head of a salamander is the same
width as or narrower than the trunk.
• The trunk has twelve to eighteen
vertebrae, which are the bones that make
up the spinal column, also called the
backbone even though it is made up of
more than one bone.
• The tail of a salamander usually is about
the same length as the head and body
combined.
• Most salamanders have camouflage
colouring but it cannot change its colour
like a chameleon. Some are brightly
coloured while others are dull coloured.
• The brightly coloured ones are
poisonous or look like the poisonous
ones in order to trick predators.

Amphibians – Newt
• Newts are amphibians that typically
inhabit forests with good access to
water in hilly to mountainous regions.
• They are mostly absent in forest-poor
areas. They populate well in thick
deciduous forests, as well as parkland
and natural gardens.
• Newts are characterised by a lizard-
like body with four equal sized limbs
and a distinct tail.
• Many newts produce toxins in their
skin secretions as a defence
mechanism against predators.
• Most newts have body colour that
blend into their living environment to
hide away from predators.
• Do you think they look very much like
the lizards?

Amphibians – Toads
• Do you know all toads actually are a
type of frogs? So, how do we tell the
difference?
• A distinction is often made between
frogs and toads on the basis of their
appearance. However, sometime this
is not very clear also.
• Many toads have leathery skin for
better water retention, and a brown
coloration for camouflage.
• Toads camouflage well in the
environment if it remains still.
• Can you locate the toads in each of the
pictures on the right?
• Press the <Space Bar> to find them.

Amphibians – Caecilians
• The least known amphibian is the
caecilians. They have no limbs and are
blind. They look like large worms,
earthworms or smooth snakes. Nearly
all species live in warm-temperate and
tropical regions.
• They usually hidden beneath the Caecilian
ground, seldom being seen in daylight
above the ground. Eyes are of little use
in such a habitat, but caecilians have
developed a sensitive "feeler" or
tentacle which probably helps them
search for worms and insects that are
the main constituents of their diet.
• Their skin is smooth and usually dark-
matte, but some species have colourful
skins.
• They usually blend into the soil colour
and thus making them hard to be
noticed by their predators like birds.

Conclusion
• Animals need camouflage to hide from
predators in the wild.
• Predators use camouflage to sneak up close
to their preys, undetected, so they can eat
them.
• The most common type of camouflage is
concealment whereby the colour of the
animal blend into the surrounding thereby
making it very difficult for their predators or
preys to see them.
• Camouflage is, in any case, a surviving
strategy for animals and it's practiced either
by the predators and by the preys, in all
animal orders.

Conclusion
• Even human beings camouflage
themselves!
• Look at the pictures on the left and
bottom. Do you think you can find the
soldiers in the pictures?
• Press the <Space Bar> to locate them.

You can download a copy of the slides from http://
www.nigelpoh.blogspot.com

P3 Science Project 2 Animal Camouflage

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