Camouflage & the Cat

[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

[Eichhörnchen]

This British butterfly is a master of camouflage: not only is it almost invisible against the heathland where it lives, it also famously angles its wings upon landing so as to cast no shadow

http://www.habitas.org.uk/priority/s....asp?item=5582

[Platapus]

In one of my animal product catalogs I have shows an "anti-bird catching" collar for a cat. It consists of brightly colored panels and is designed to flair out.

Evidently this is better than any bells as the birds can react to the small movements of the bright colors easier and sooner.

The article pointed out that a bell on the collar may make the cat more vulnerable to predators as if the cat runs away, the bell rings, where when the cat is stalking a bird, the bell does not ring until it is too late.

[Eichhörnchen]

^ That's a very interesting aspect I hadn't thought about... where you are trying to counter the camouflage nature has bestowed on the cat

I'm trying now to think of other instances of this... it can't be compared to the wearing of day-glo armbands and suchlike by cyclists because with these you're not trying to counter a deliberate camouflage

Perhaps the painting of high-vis markings on the vehicles of, and the bright blue helmets of, UN personnel.... operating in a war zone strictly as non combatants, not to be targeted

Russian tanks in Berlin at the close of WW2 also commonly had large white crosses painted on their turret tops so that allied ground-attack planes could identify them more easily

[Eichhörnchen]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techa...pes/ar-BBUkREL