Camouflage & the Cat

[Eichhörnchen]

That story reminds me... walking home with a mate from the pub one night I perceived a white, black-spotted soccer ball in the middle of the road ahead. Of course I set off and ran towards it (or what passed for running in my state) but just before I delivered the goal-scoring kick my friend yelled "It's a cat!" whereupon I deftly hopped over the curled slumbering moggy

Now his camouflage was very convincing

[Sean C]

Maybe the birds are drunk, too?

[Rockstar]

The bird most likely sees the cat. But I wonder if it recognizes a slow moving grounded object like a cat as a threat.

Squirrels on the other hand when they see a cat will alert the entire neighborhood to its presence with a cacophony of sound.

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

The bird most likely sees the cat. But I wonder if it recognizes a slow moving grounded object like a cat as a threat.

Squirrels on the other hand when they see a cat will alert the entire neighborhood to its presence with a cacophony of sound.

There was a young lady in my complex who walked her dog every day past a tree at the end of the block; the dog would rush up to the base of the tree and growl and woof a bit; a squirrel then would climb down the tree trunk and stop just beyond the reach of the dog; the two of them would taunt each other, the dog woofing at the squirrel, the squirrel chattering at the dog; this would go on for a bit until the young lady would pull on the leash and start to walk away; they did this every time I saw them; the young lady has moved away (shame, she was very easy on the eyes), but the squirrel still occasionally wanders down the tree trunk as if looking for the dog to come back...










<O>

[fireftr18]

Story years ago from a local medical helicopter pilot. They were flying for a patient from the south-eastern part of Kentucky. The pilot received a radio message that B-52's were flying maneuvers in the area. He said he was looking around and couldn't see any. Then when he looked down, he saw something looking strange. He then realized it was one the airplanes. He said if he didn't know to look for them, he would not have seen it. At that time, B-52's were still painted in the camouflage pattern.

[Eichhörnchen]

At the beginning of WW2 the triumphant Luftwaffe's fighter aircraft were usually painted in various tones grey and grey-greens on their upper sides with just the apex of the fuselage spine darkened with these colours, which were sometimes drawn down the light blue fuselage sides in various light mottles. This camouflage was designed for combat in the higher atmosphere and over the sea.

Later, as their machines spent far more time on the ground because of logistical shortages and became subject to more frequent low-level attacks, they moved over to using browns and greens in their top camouflage (sometimes quite garish too) with solid colour now covering the fuselage sides and not just the spine

[Eichhörnchen]

Read here the fascinating story of how the Peppered Moth actually evolved a dark form to survive predation in the increasingly grimy environment of the Industrial North of England

http://www.mothscount.org/text/63/pe...selection.html

(But please note that the moth shown at the top right of this feature is not a Peppered Moth but a Magpie Moth )

Below you can see the original Peppered Moth imago alongside its evolved melanistic form. Many other previously light-coloured moth species evolved these dark forms as acid rain steadily ate away the algae on trees, rendering their camouflage ineffective