Outline And Surface Disruption In Animal Camouflage

Main Category: Veterinary
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 21 Nov 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Camouflage is an important strategy in animals to prevent predation.

This includes disruptive coloration, where high contrast markings at an animal's edge break up the body shape. Successful disruption may also involve markings found away from the body outline that create 'false edges' more salient than the true body form ('surface disruption'). However, this idea has not been previously tested.

We used artificial prey presented to wild avian predators, to determine the effectiveness of surface disruption and marginal markings.

Disruptive coloration was more effective when high contrast markings were placed away from the body outline, creating effective surface disruption.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences