Camouflage is an adaptation that helps an animal disguise its appearance. There are many types of camouflage. Camouflage may help an animal blend into its background or look like something inedible or toxic.

Many prey animals use camouflage to protect themselves from predators. Also, some predators use certain forms of camouflage to help them hide and sneak up on prey.

Are you an educator planning to teach camouflage in your classroom? You may enjoy trying out this simple camouflage lab activity – read about the lab activity and download my printable worksheets and directions for it:

Types of camouflage include concealing coloration, disruptive coloration, countershading, disguise, and mimicry. Here are a few forms of camouflage:

1. Concealing Coloration

Concealing coloration is when an animal’s colors match its background to help it blend in. Often, animals with concealing coloration are shades of green, gray, and brown so that they do not stand out against leaves, twigs, rocks, and soils. In the polar regions, animals may have white fur so that they blend in with snow.

Examples: A huge number of insects, lizards, turtles, snakes, rodents, and other prey animals have concealing coloration. Some animals, like chameleons, can even change the color of their skin to match their background more closely. Arctic animals with concealing coloration to blend in with snow include some arctic foxes, polar bears, ptarmigans, snowy owls, and arctic hares.

2. Disruptive Coloration

Disruptive coloration includes patterns like spots and stripes that make it difficult to see the outline of an animal. These patterns of contrasting colors can visually break up an animal into pieces. It is difficult to hunt an animal if you cannot tell where its body begins and ends!

Examples: zebra, leopard

3. Countershading

Countershading is a common type of camouflage for aquatic animals. Their bellies are light-colored, like the surface of the water when viewed from below. Their backs are dark, like the water’s depths when seen from above.

Examples: sea turtles, dolphins, sharks

4. Disguise

Disguise is when an animal looks like something inedible. For example, it disguises itself as a rock or stick. Predators do not realize that the animal is something good to eat.

Examples: walking stick, leaf insects

5. Mimicry

Animals use mimicry to trick predators into thinking they are something yucky, dangerous, or inedible. The mimic may be a relatively harmless animal that looks similar to a dangerous animal. This clever disguise fools predators into thinking the harmless animal is far more dangerous than it is.

Examples: milk snakes look like venomous coral snakes. Viceroy butterflies look like poisonous monarch butterflies.

Bonus: aposematism aka warning coloration

Aposematism is not camouflage – in fact, it is the opposite of camouflage! Aposematism means warning coloration. Venomous, poisonous, and otherwise dangerous animals often have bold patterns and colors. Contrasting patterns or stripes of red, orange, yellow,  black, and white let predators know to back off! Gila monsters and coral snakes are two venomous reptiles with warning coloration. A skunk’s black and white stripes are another example of warning coloration.

Learn about camouflage & coloration in my Reptiles Unit!

From Gila monsters to chameleons, the world of reptiles is full of some crazy patterns and disguises! If you enjoyed learning about the types of camouflage in this post, I know you will love learning more about the camouflage and coloration of reptiles in my complete Reptiles Unit!

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References and Further Reading

1. American Museum of Natural History (2017). WARNING: Aposematism Explained. Available: https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/news-posts/warning-aposematism-explained
2. Rocky Mountain National Park (n.d.). Animal Camouflage. NPS. Available: https://www.nps.gov/romo/animal_camouflage.htm
3. Rocky Mountain National Park (n.d.). Warning Coloration. NPS. Available: https://www.nps.gov/romo/warning_coloration.htm
4. Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (n.d.). Sinaloan milksnake. Available: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/sinaloan-milksnake
5. D’Augustino, T. (2019). Why do animals have different color patterns? Michigan State University Extension. Available: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/why-do-animals-have-different-color-patterns

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