Animals that Use Camouflage, 5-11
These remaining animals on our list might make you wish you could blend into your surroundings better.
5. Arctic Owls
Ah, the Arctic tundra: cold, barren, and totally white. Arctic owls have a coat of snow-white feathers to keep them warm and safe from predators, such as foxes and wolves.
6. Bark Bugs
For most bugs, birds are the bad guys. For bark bugs, which hang out on trees around the world, this is especially true. In order to hide in the middle of nature's birdhouses, bark bugs appear to be part of the tree itself.
7. Ornate Wobbegongs
If you're ever swimming in the shallow waters off Australia or New Guinea, look for the ornate wobbegong -- though you probably won't be able to see it! This shark's body flattens out on the seafloor where its spots and blotchy lines resemble rock and coral. Wobbegongs take camouflage a step further with a little "beard" under their chins that looks like seaweed. Prey that swim in front of their mouths are gobbled up without knowing what hit them.
8. Gaboon Vipers
In order to hide from their prey, gaboon vipers -- among the most venomous snakes on Earth -- make the most of their brownish-gray, mottled scales. These big snakes hide in the layer of dead leaves that carpets the African rain forest floors. They also like to snuggle into forest floor peat and sneak up on unsuspecting prey.
9. Leaf Butterflies
Complete with fake leaf stalk, fake leaf veins, and perfect dead-leaf coloring, leaf butterflies have the whole camouflage thing down pat. Birds pass them by without a second glance since these insects from southeast Asia look more like dead leaves than butterflies.
10. Dragon Lizards
Spiders, snakes, birds, and even other lizards all want a piece of the dragon lizard, so they have some of the most effective camouflage around. Not only do dragon lizards look nearly invisible when hanging out on a tree branch, they keep extraordinarily still, knowing that their predators react to the smallest movements. It doesn't make for an exciting life, but at least they live to tell about it.
11. Flower Mantises
Careful -- that flower you're thinking about smelling might have a flower mantis hiding inside. The flower mantis of western Africa uses colorful, pistil-and-stamen-like camouflage to trick smaller insects into smelling the roses, then snap -- lunch is served.
Helen Davies, Marjorie Dorfman, Mary Fons, Deborah Hawkins, Martin Hintz, Linnea Lundgren, David Priess, Julia Clark Robinson, Paul Seaburn, Heidi Stevens, and Steve Theunissen
