Understanding how the intricate spots and stripes, or Turing patterns, of many animals form can help scientists mimic those processes in the lab.
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Articles on Camouflage
Displaying 1 - 20 of 27 articles
Rodents destroy around 70 million tonnes of grain each year. What if we could trick them into looking elsewhere for their food?
The scientists who discovered that a giant panda’s distinctive markings provide camouflage from predators tell us about their latest work
It’s still not known exactly how female birds produce such colourful and intricately-patterned eggs. But we do have some theories about the survival advantage this provides.
Arctic foxes have a few special talents that help them sneak up on unseen prey and pounce.
For some sand-dwelling plants, stickiness is a defense tactic that keeps predators at bay.
Transparency is an evolved characteristic of some species to help them survive, even when predators are staring directly at them.
How do tigers – a top predator – successfully hunt their prey when they have bright orange fur? The secret’s in their stripes!
By eliminating the less fit individuals over time, predation can drive the population to increasing fitness in terms of survival and reproductive success.
Prey species rely on camouflage and escape to avoid getting eaten. How can they make them work together?
How the zebra got its stripes is not only a just-so story, but an object of scientific inquiry. New research suggests that stripes help zebras evade biting flies and the deadly diseases they carry.
Citizen science game offered clues to why shore crabs get greener as they grow.
Reconstructing the colours of the feathered Sinosauropteryx gives hints about its habitat and lifestyle.
We’re used to thinking of our eyes detecting light as the foundation of our visual system. But what’s going on in other cells throughout the body that can detect light, too?
Puff adders have developed impressive techniques to avoid being detected by predators.
It is one of the most controversial questions in nature. Now a group of British researchers have shed light on the answer.
Why does the zebra have stripes? Researchers are investigating whether it is to confuse predators when they’re on the move.
Last week, a new frog capable of shape-shifting, was discovered. Though many other animals use camouflage, there are only a few other species known which can actually shift their shape.
Brown or yellow, the dottyback fish has a colour for every occasion, and every habitat.
The animal kingdom is full of incredible examples of camouflage, with animals resembling objects found in their environment such as sticks or leaves, or displaying colour patterns that permit them to blend…
Top contributors
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Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol
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Research Associate, The University of Western Australia
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Senior Lecturer and ARC Australian Research Fellow, Zoology, The University of Melbourne
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Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Evolutionary Ecology, Griffith University
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Professor, Department of Art History, University of Sydney
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Lecturer, University of Exeter
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Discovery Early Career Research Fellow, University of Sydney
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PhD Researcher in Marine Ecology, University of Exeter
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Postdoctoral Fellow in Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology
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Postdoctoral associate, The University of Queensland
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Principal Lecturer in Wildlife Conservation, Nottingham Trent University
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Professor of Vision Science, Newcastle University
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Professor of Psychology, University of St Andrews
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Research Fellow, University of St Andrews
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Professor of Conservation Biology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney
