Camouflage facts for kids

Hooded grasshopper (Teratodus monticollis) is camouflaged in both shape and colour

Camouflaged Ibex in the Israeli desert

Kallima inachus, the Indian leaf butterfly shows its leaf-like underside when its wings are closed.

A camouflaged frog in Brazil, almost invisible (it's facing right, on the upper left of the nearly-vertical stick on the rightmost third of the photo).

The frog from the photo above, highlighted so you can see it better.

A typical tabby cat has dark stripes on its back, head, and paws, and is white on its belly. This is called countershading, a key way animals use camouflage.

Seahorse

Camouflage is a way to hide by blending in with your surroundings. It makes an animal or object hard to see. If an animal's natural colors and patterns make it look like its environment, that's camouflage. Think of a tiger's stripes in tall grass, or a soldier's uniform in a forest.

Camouflage is a type of trick or deception. The word "camouflage" comes from the French word camoufler, which means "to disguise".

How Animals Hide in Nature

In nature, most animals blend into their environment. They become very hard to spot. This helps them survive and have babies. Animals that are dangerous to eat, like wasps, do the opposite. They use bright warning colors to tell others to stay away.

Animals that are prey (hunted) use camouflage to hide from predators (hunters). Predators also use camouflage to sneak up on their prey without being seen. Blending in with their surroundings is a common way animals do this. Another way is for an animal to look like something harmless, like a leaf or a stick.

Some camouflaged animals also copy movements in nature. For example, they might sway like a leaf blowing in the wind. Other animals attach natural things like twigs or sponges to their bodies to hide. Some animals can even change color! This can happen with the seasons, like Arctic animals such as the arctic fox or arctic hare. Or it can happen very quickly, like with a chameleon or cuttlefish.

Some herd animals, like zebras, have patterns that make it hard for a predator to pick out one animal when they are all running together.

Mimicry is a special kind of camouflage. It's when an animal or plant looks like another one. Usually, the animal it copies is unpleasant to eat or dangerous.

Countershading: Dark on Top, Light Below

Most animals are darker on their backs and lighter on their bellies. This is called countershading. Light usually comes from above, like the sun. The darker back absorbs light, and the lighter belly reflects it. This makes the animal look flatter and less noticeable.

We know this works because of animals that live upside down. A good example is the Nile catfish, which swims with its belly facing up. In this case, its belly is dark, and its back is light. This helps it blend in while swimming upside down.

Hiding in Water: See-Through and Shiny Animals

Animals that are transparent (see-through) or partly transparent are common in the pelagic layer of the sea. This is the part of the ocean where sunlight can reach. Being transparent or shiny works better underwater than in the air. This is because less light goes deeper into the water. Also, less light reflects off things underwater compared to in the air.

Related Topics

• Military camouflage
• Mimicry
• Warning colouration: This is the opposite of camouflage, where animals want to be seen.

Gallery

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  Scops owl in tree: its feathers help the owl hide during the day.

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  A mantis from Madagascar looks just like a dead leaf.

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  Two flatfish blending in with the seafloor!

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  A leaf insect at home on a plant.

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  A zoo tiger looks striking, but in its natural home, it blends with the long grass.

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  The more natural the surroundings, the better the camouflage works.

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  Tawny Frogmouths blend in with the color and texture of tree bark. Found in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

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  A spider hides inside a flower to ambush prey.

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  Draco indochinensis uses several ways to hide: broken-up colors, lying flat, and hiding its shadow.

Images for kids

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  The peacock flounder can change its pattern and colors to match its environment.

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  A soldier applying camouflage face paint; both helmet and jacket have broken-up patterns.

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  Octopuses like this Octopus cyanea can change color (and shape) for camouflage.

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  Experiment by Poulton, 1890: swallowtailed moth pupae with camouflage they got as larvae.

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  Abbott Thayer's 1907 painting Peacock in the Woods showed a peacock as if it were camouflaged.

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  Illustration of "maximum disruptive contrast" by Hugh Cott, 1940.

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  The leafy sea dragon sways like seaweeds to make its camouflage even better.

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  How counter-illumination works in the firefly squid.

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  Many animals of the open sea, like this Aurelia labiata jellyfish, are mostly transparent.

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  Glass frogs like Hyalinobatrachium uranoscopum use partial transparency to hide in the dim light of the rainforest.

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  The adult herring, Clupea harengus, is a typical shiny fish of medium depths, hidden by reflection.

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  The herring's shiny parts are almost straight up and down to hide it from the side.

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  Blackdevil anglerfish is one of several deep-sea fish hidden against very dark water with black skin.

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  The zebra's bold pattern might make it hard for observers to track them when they move.

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  Roman ships, shown on a 3rd-century AD sarcophagus.

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  Green-jacketed rifleman firing Baker rifle 1803.

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  Iron observation post hidden as a tree by Cubist painter André Mare, 1916.

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  A hide used in field sports.

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  Cellphone tower disguised as a tree.

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  The "dazzle ball" held by the Chelsea Arts Club, 1919.

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  Black-faced sandgrouse is colored like its desert background.

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  Egyptian nightjar nests in open sand with only its camouflaged feathers to protect it.

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  Papuan frogmouth looks like a broken branch.

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  Bright green katydid has the color of fresh plants.

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  Leopard: a predator hidden by broken-up patterns.

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  Russian T-90 battle tank painted in bold broken-up patterns of sand and green.

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  Gaboon viper's bold markings break up its shape very well.

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  A ptarmigan and five chicks show amazing broken-up camouflage.

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  Jumping spider: an invertebrate predator hidden by broken-up patterns.

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  Many understory plants like the saw greenbriar, Smilax bona-nox have pale markings, possibly for broken-up camouflage.

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  "Shape, shine, shadow" make these 'camouflaged' military vehicles easy to see.

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  The flat-tail horned lizard's body is flat and has fringes to make its shadow smaller.

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  Camouflage netting is draped away from a military vehicle to reduce its shadow.

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  A caterpillar's fringe of bristles hides its shadow.

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  This decorator crab has covered its body with sponges.

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  Sniper in a Ghillie suit with plant materials.

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  Reduvius personatus, masked hunter bug nymph, hidden with sand grains.

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  Soviet tanks under netting covered with plants, 1938.

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  Male Syritta pipiens hoverflies use motion camouflage to approach females.

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  Male Australian Emperor dragonflies use motion camouflage to approach rivals.

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  Rock ptarmigan, changing color in springtime. The male is still mostly in winter feathers.

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  Norwegian volunteer soldiers in Winter War, 1940, with white camouflage overalls over their uniforms.

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  Arctic hares in the low arctic change from brown to white in winter.

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  Snow-camouflaged German Marder III jagdpanzer and white-overalled crew and infantry in Russia, 1943.

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  Veiled chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus, changes color mainly based on its mood and for sending signals.

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  Adaptiv infrared camouflage lets an armored vehicle look like a car.

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  Countershaded Dorcas gazelle, Gazella dorcas.

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  Countershaded grey reef shark, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos.

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  Countershaded ship and submarine in Thayer's 1902 patent application.

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  Two model birds painted by Thayer: painted in background colors on the left, countershaded and almost invisible on the right.

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  Countershaded Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9.

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  HMS Largs by night with incomplete diffused lighting camouflage, 1942, set to maximum brightness.

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  Side of HMS Largs showing 4 (out of about 60) diffused lighting fittings, 2 lifted, 2 used.

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  Yehudi Lights make the plane's average brightness match the sky, hiding its dark shape.

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  Peppered moth caterpillars copy twigs.

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  Flower mantis attracts its insect prey by looking like a Phalaenopsis orchid blossom.

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  This grasshopper hides from predators by looking like a dry leaf.

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  WWII tank hidden in Operation Bertram by looking like a truck.

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  Armed WW1 Q-ship tricked enemy submarines by looking like a merchant ship.

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  Cuckoo adult copies a sparrowhawk, giving the female time to lay eggs in other birds' nests.

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  Cuckoo eggs copying smaller eggs, in this case from a reed warbler.

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  Wrap-around spider Dolophones looking like a stick.

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  USS West Mahomet in dazzle camouflage.

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  Siege howitzer hidden from air observation, 1917.

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  Austro-Hungarian ski patrol in two-part snow uniforms with improvised head camouflage on Italian front, 1915-1918.

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  Maritime patrol Catalina, painted white to be less visible against the sky.

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  1937 summer version of Waffen SS Flecktarn Plane tree pattern.

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  USS Duluth in naval camouflage Measure 32, Design 11a, one of many dazzle patterns used on warships.

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  A Spitfire's underside 'azure' paint scheme, meant to hide it against the sky.

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  A Luftwaffe aircraft hangar built to look like a street of village houses, Belgium, 1944.

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  Red Army soldiers in the Battle of Stalingrad in snow camouflage overalls, January 1943.

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  CADPAT was the first pixellated digital camouflage pattern, used in 2002.

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  British Disruptive Pattern Material, given to special forces in 1963 and everyone by 1968.

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  2007 2-color snow version of Finnish Defence Forces M05 pattern.

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  Modern German Flecktarn 1990, developed from a 1938 pattern, a non-digital pattern that works at different distances.

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  US "Chocolate Chip" Six-Color Desert Pattern developed in 1962, widely used in the Gulf War.

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  André Mare's Cubist sketch, around 1917, of a 280 calibre gun shows how art and war mixed. Artists like Mare used their skills as wartime camoufleurs (camouflage designers).

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  Camouflage clothing at an anti-war protest, 1971.

See also

In Spanish: Camuflaje para niños