Camouflage and Mimicry By: Matt Tomlinson

Camouflage and mimicry are adaptations some animals use as protection from predators. Animals that use camouflage look like things in their environment. It might look like a twig, a rock, or a leaf.

Mimicry:
Animals that use mimicry use the colors they have to look like a other animal. For example, countless moth, butterfly, and freshwater fish species have "eye-spots", large dark markings that are flashed momentarily to startle a predator and allow the prey to escape. Mimicry is less often used in catching prey, but is still done today. Preditors use mimicry to help them look less threatening to fool the prey as to it's orgin of attack. For example, turtle species nd Catfish have tongue extensions that are used to lure and attract prey to a position where they become an easy catch. One of the most interesting examples of self-mimicry is the two-headed snake of Central Africa which has a tail that resembles a head and a head that resembles a tail.



Camouflage:
A different approach is camouflage, animals seek to look inedible to avoid predators and prey. Sensory abilities of animals are beneficial to be able to detect camouflaged animals, or the crypsis characteristic. Crypsis is usually most effective when an animal is still. Cryptic animals that are active during the day may be "sit-and-wait" predators, they have the ability to blend into their background. Cryptic animals may be active predators in the dark and use their crypsis while inactive. For example, Katydids are nocturnal insects which use their cryptic coloration to remain unnoticed during the day when they are inactive. They remain perfectly still, often in a position that makes them blend in better.




There are three forms of mimicry: Batesian mimicry, Muellerian mimicry, and self-mimicry. Mimicry is the similarities between animal species; camouflage are animal species resembling an inanimate something.


Batesian mimicry is two or more species that are similar, but only with spines, stingers, or toxic chemistry, while its apparent double lacks these traits.

Muellerian mimicry is two unpalatable species that mimics each other with coloration.
Self-mimicry is a term for animals that have one body part that mimics another to increase survival during an attack or helps the them look dead.



Mimicry helps the animal to not get eaten by making it look like a predator instead of prey. Camouflage hides it so it doesn't get eaten or so it can sneak up on its prey. Mimicry helps by copying looks of other animals so that predators won't be eating them, camouflage helps by copying the looks of their surroundings so that some predators won't be seeing them.

Links:
-http://www.rainforests.mongabay.com/
-http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camouflage
-http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0306.htm
-http://yahoo.com/