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Although we as humans may often feel as if we want to camouflage ourselves and hide in a crowd, animals often have to camouflage themselves from their predators. Camouflage is mostly used for protection purposes, and it is an absolute wonderful sight to see animals blend into their environment.  

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In the wild it is often a very challenging task to stay alive.  If an animal is small and slow, then it is quite possible that it might have difficulty to survive.  Their predators are often larger and faster and this is where camouflage comes in. Animal species have evolved so much over time and developed in different ways that with each generation they camouflage themselves better. This is due to natural selection and we all know that is where only the strongest will survive. 

Baby animals often have more patterns to camouflage themselves better.  The young animals often needs to be left alone while the parents are out hunting for food and the young needs to be able to hide themselves from other predators. 

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Every season birds change their feathers to make them more adaptable to their environment. Often the color or the pattern on an animals allows them to blend in so perfectly with the environment.

Look at this owl.  It totally blends in perfectly with the tree branch and is actually very hard to notice.

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Did you know that there is a difference between a disguise and camouflage?

Animals often disguise themselves to look like another object.  Some animals are difficult to see like the stick insect or the leaf insect.  These are masters of disguise and they are nearly completely invisible to see.  

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Interesting facts about camouflage:

Animals adapt to their surrounding to blend in more with their environment. Look at the Polar bear that lives in the cold snowy areas of Antarctica it is very difficult to even see these animals because they are white.

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Some animals are often colored very brightly because in nature bright colors mean danger or poison.

Which other ways could animals use to protect themselves?

Trickery!

Animals often trick other animals to think they are dead. Most animals prefer to eat only fresh meat, so they will walk past a dead animal and ignore it. 

There are many animals that do not use camouflage to defend themselves. These animals have other ways to protect themselves and the only threat to these animals are human beings.  These animals include the Rhinoceros and other bigger animals.   

Now that you know a little bit about camouflage, let us see if you can see what is hidden in these three pictures. The answers will be at the bottom so don't peak before the time. 

Picture number 1

 

Picture number 2

Picture number 3

Here are some questions that you can answer about camouflage:

1.  Give two reasons why animals use camouflage?

2.  Name two ways that animals could blend in with their environment?

3. What is it called when an animal blends in perfectly with its environment?

Here is an amazing video to help students understand camouflage a little better with some great examples. 

Video courtesy of YouTube

Fun activity for kids to do!

Draw a picture of an animal and then color it to blend in with the colors in your bedroom.  Ask you parents to frame this picture for you!

References:

You can explore these links for some more interesting information about camouflage.

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/lessonplans/animals/camouflage.html

https://www.boredpanda.com/animal-camouflage-39/

Answer to picture 1 - Toad 

Answer to picture 2- Chameleon

Answer to picture 3- Gecko

I hope you enjoyed this lesson!