Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 Animal camouflage
- 2 Crypsis through background matching
- 3 The concealment of body parts through coincident disruptive coloration
- 4 The history, theory and evidence for a cryptic function of countershading
- 5 Camouflage-breaking mathematical operators and countershading
- 6 Nature's artistry
- 7 Camouflage behaviour and body orientation on backgrounds containing directional patterns
- 8 Camouflage and visual perception
- 9 Rapid adaptive camouflage in cephalopods
- 10 What can camouflage tell us about non-human visual perception? A case study of multiple cue use in cuttlefish (Sepia spp.)
- 11 Camouflage in marine fish
- 12 Camouflage in decorator crabs
- 13 Camouflage in colour-changing animals
- 14 The multiple disguises of spiders
- 15 Effects of animal camouflage on the evolution of live backgrounds
- 16 The functions of black-and-white coloration in mammals
- 17 Evidence for camouflage involving senses other than vision
- Index
- Plate section
- References
1 - Animal camouflage
Function and mechanisms
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 Animal camouflage
- 2 Crypsis through background matching
- 3 The concealment of body parts through coincident disruptive coloration
- 4 The history, theory and evidence for a cryptic function of countershading
- 5 Camouflage-breaking mathematical operators and countershading
- 6 Nature's artistry
- 7 Camouflage behaviour and body orientation on backgrounds containing directional patterns
- 8 Camouflage and visual perception
- 9 Rapid adaptive camouflage in cephalopods
- 10 What can camouflage tell us about non-human visual perception? A case study of multiple cue use in cuttlefish (Sepia spp.)
- 11 Camouflage in marine fish
- 12 Camouflage in decorator crabs
- 13 Camouflage in colour-changing animals
- 14 The multiple disguises of spiders
- 15 Effects of animal camouflage on the evolution of live backgrounds
- 16 The functions of black-and-white coloration in mammals
- 17 Evidence for camouflage involving senses other than vision
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
One cannot help being impressed by the near-perfect camouflage of a moth matching the colour and pattern of the tree on which it rests, or of the many examples in nature of animals resembling other objects in order to be hidden (Figure 1.1). The Nobel Prize winning ethologist Niko Tinbergen referred to such moths as ‘bark with wings’ (Tinbergen 1974), such was the impressiveness of their camouflage. On a basic level, camouflage can be thought of as the property of an object that renders it difficult to detect or recognise by virtue of its similarity to its environment (Stevens & Merilaita 2009a). The advantage of being concealed from predators (or sometimes from prey) is easy to understand, and camouflage has long been used as a classical example of natural selection. Perhaps for this reason, until recently, camouflage was subject to little rigorous experimentation – its function and value seemed obvious. However, like any theory, the possible advantages of camouflage, and how it works, need rigorous scientific testing. Furthermore, as we shall see below and in this book in general, the concept of concealment is much richer, more complex and interesting than scientists originally thought.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Animal CamouflageMechanisms and Function, pp. 1 - 16Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
- 17
- Cited by