Camouflage is a defense strategy in which living beings resemble the environment in which they live.
In this case, individuals of a species can present color, shape or texture similar to the environment and thus go unnoticed by their predator.
However, the same mechanism can also be used by some predators to surprise their prey.
Camouflage is a result of natural selection and represents an adaptation that ensures the survival of species in the environment.
There are two types of camouflage:
- homochromy: When the individual has a similar coloration to the environment.
- homotypy: When the individual presents the body structure that is confused with elements of the environment.
Examples
In nature we can find different examples of camouflage, some cases are very curious because of such similarity between the living being and the environment.
Get to know some examples:
stick insect
The stick insect is an insect and represents an example of homotypy. In this way, it can go unnoticed among tree branches.
vulture bird
The Urutau bird is a nocturnal bird with a plumage adapted for camouflage. It is often paralyzed on tree trunks so as not to be noticed by its predators.
chameleon
The chameleon is a lizard with excellent ability to camouflage itself, representing one of nature's best examples.
They can change their color depending on their temperature or their interaction with other individuals, in addition to their ability to camouflage.
owls
Owls can easily camouflage themselves in tree trunks. The fact that the color of its feathers is similar to the environment, makes the owl go unnoticed.
Camouflage and mimicry
The concepts of mimicry and camouflage are quite confused. Understand the difference between them:
- Mimicry: You beings resemble each other to get some advantage.
- Camouflage: You beings resemble the environment in which they live to hide from predators or surprise prey.
O mimicry it is an adaptive characteristic of animals or plants to imitate another organism and thus gain advantages.
As with camouflage, the main purpose of mimicry is defense against predators.
Read too:
- Predatism
- Animal Kingdom