Camouflage can make it extremely difficult to spot an animal in it’s natural habitat. That can be rather dangerous if you happen to be travelling through areas where dangerous animals are known to reside. For the animals themselves, however, the gift of camouflage is an essential element in their survival. It conceals the animal from it’s predators while, at the same time, making the animal itself a stealthy predator. It is able to inconspicuously hunt down and pounce upon it’s hapless prey. It achieves this by confusing the vision of other creatures as it blends into the natural surroundings. Many of such animals also have an uncanny ability to remain motionless for extended periods of time, adding to the impression that they are a part of the backdrop. Let’s take a look at some of the amazing camouflage provided by the appearance of some animals of the wild.

The zebra’s coat is a striking design. The pattern of contrasting shapes and forms that make up the distinctive stripes on the coat of the zebra serve to break up the shape of the animal into irregular shapes and patterns. When looking from a distance the eye has difficulty in fitting a broken color form into one solid form. Rather it will have a tendency to view the light patches between the dark stripes as the patches of light visible between grass and trees. So it is possible for the zebra to merge into the grasslands and become invisible to untrained observer.

Another trick of the camouflager is countershading. This occurs when the coloration of the upper parts of an animal is darker than it’s undersides. Hence the effect of sunlight is counteracted. The normal casting of a shadow on the ground is distorted and the animal is not given away by its shadow.

Some animals merge with their background by the use of just a single color. The polar bear merging into the snows of the Arctic are an example of this, as are the grasshopper and the parakeet.
 
Among the insect world, a common form of camouflage is mimicry. Here an insect will becomes a part of the surrounding environment, mimicking its behaviour. Stick insects, for instance, become parts of a tree. Leaf insects so closely resemble the greeny leaves of a tree, with their shape, markings and movements that other insects have been so deceived that they have actually nibbled on the insect.

In the water, too, there are creatures who excel in the area of camouflage. The stone fish, for example, looks like nothing more than a large underwater stone. The Australian sea dragon resembles a bunch of tangled seaweed. The Scorpion blends into the rocky coral environment it inhabits. The flounder is able to change it’s markings to suit it’s backdrop

The most amazing example of camouflage, however, must be credited to the creature who actually changes identity, the chameleon. Chameleons can change color at will to match their surroundings. As the animal’s eyes record the colors in its immediate environment, certain nerves send messages to hormones which react by sending pigment bearing cells called chromatophores to change their concentration, distribution and position. This allows the creature to actually change color as it wills.

Man has drawn much inspiration from the natural world of the animal kingdom when it comes to camouflage. His uses for the ability to blend in with his background have, though, been far more sinister. In jungle warfare he attempts to become one with the dense forest in order to surprise and attack his enemy. The use of camouflage as a weapon of war dates back to the time of the Greeks in the 12th Century, B.C.E. It was then that they are said to have filled a massive wooden horse with Greek soldiers and placed it outside the city of Troy, ostensibly as a gift to that city. After it had been hauled inside the city walls, however, the Greek soldiers emptied out, under the cover of darkness and opened the gates, allowing the city to be captured.

Since then a body of systemized knowledge about camouflage has been built up. Camouflage now includes military installations that are made to appear non-existent to enemy radar. Yet, no matter how hard man tries, he will never match the natural beauty and skill of the camouflage on display in the animal world.