Some animals’ colors and patterns resemble a particular natural background. Crypsis means blending with the background, making the animal or military equipment hard to see. This is an important component of camouflage in all environments. Continue reading to see five incredible examples of animal camouflage.

5. Leaf-Tailed Gecko

Most forms of camouflage are ineffective when the camouflaged animal or object moves, because the motion is easily seen by the observing predator, prey or enemy.

4. Stick Bug

In mimesis, the camouflaged object looks like something else which is of no special interest to the observer. Mimesis is common in prey animals, for example when a peppered moth caterpillar mimics a twig, or a grasshopper mimics a dry leaf.

3. Leopard

Predators like the leopard use disruptive camouflage to help them approach prey, while potential prey like the Egyptian nightjar use it to avoid detection by predators.

2. Chameleon

Animals such as chameleon, frog,[95] flatfish, squid and octopus actively change their skin patterns and colours using special chromatophore cells to resemble their current background (as well as for signalling).

1. Cuttlefish

Motion camouflage is achieved by moving so as to stay on a straight line between the target and a fixed point in the landscape; the pursuer thus appears not to move, but only to loom larger in the target’s field of vision.

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