Camouflage and Mimicry

Biograpy: My name is Lyndsey and i go to Olathe North High School. I am a Jr. and this blog is for the student naturalist class that i am in. I love listening to music, writing, and drawing. All these things calm me and help me cope with the hectic life i have. Lately I have had the urge to do something realy spontaneous, like bungy jumping i think i just want a really big rush.

Essay:
Camouflage and mimicry are used in some oragainsims to protect them from predators. Mimicry is the similarities between two different species. and camouflage is an animals resembling an object. There are 3 types of mimicry, Batesian mimicry, Muellerian mimicry, and self-mimicry. Batesian mimicry refers to two or more species that have similar appearances, but only one has with spines, stingers, or toxic chemistry. The second one only has the defense of mimicing the other. Muellerian mimicry is when two species look exactly the same but are different. Self-mimicry is when an animal has one part the can be used to confuse the enemy into thinking its something that its not. Animals that use camouflage change their color to where they are at or they already have that type of coloring so the adapt to a certain environment. there are occurances sometimes when the best camouflage could be bright colors which are most of the time meaning danger and poisonus but some species that have this coloratio are faking it. a good example would be the butterflys or moths that have large eye patterns. they are vibrant but fool predators because they think it is a large snake. also a good example of mimicry would be the milk snake mimicing the coral snake. their coloring is almost exactly the same but if you look closly you can see the difference between the two. the colors are switched on the milke snake.


Web links that were used in the essay:
http://www.thewildones.org/Animals/camo.html
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0306.htm
http://www.saczoo.com/3_kids/20_camouflage/camouflage_mimicry.htm
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Animal_Behavior/Mimicry_and_Camouflage
http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_insects/Mimicry.htm

Camouflage and Mimicry

About Me: My name is Sami Kay. I'm a senior at Olathe North. I love to hang out with my friends and have fun. Hanging out with my friends mainly consist of me, Alex, and Leeya hanging out somewhere and showing our hyper sides. My fav spots to hang is at Leeya's house, Alex's house, or the skate park. My friends are my life. I'm around them all the time. But I'm doing this project for my student naturalist class. So yea....here it is....

Essay: Camouflage and mimicry are the two types of deceptive coloration. Deceptive coloration is when an animal uses its color to fool its predator or prey.

Camouflage helps prey hide from its predators. It is also use by predators to sneak up on their prey. Animals that use camouflage often look like their surroundings. Some examples of those surrounding are rocks, leaves, grass, trees, and many other plants. Some animals often look like something not very interesting or dangerous. Animals with spots or stripes can blend in with their surrounding easier because they use their spots or stripes to hide in shadows. Some examples of these animals are tigers, lions, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars or zebras. Zebras are normally hunted mainly by lions and live in herds. So if the zebra stays in its herd and the lion get ready to attack one of the weaker zebras it is harder for the lion to figure out which zebra was weak because the stripes mix together and confuse the lion. Polar bears use the snow to blend in. Other animals that use camouflage very well are beetles, mantids, caterpillars, moths, snakes, lizards, and frogs. Red squirrels use a different type of camouflage. It is called counter shading, which means the fur on top of the animal is different than the fur on the belly. Red squirrels use the fur on top of it to blend in with the ground when its running around on the ground and the fur on its belly when it is up in trees to blend in with the sky. Penguins also use counter shading. Since they spend lots of time in the water they use the black feathers to hide from predators above the water and they use the white feathers to hide from the predators under the water.

Mimicry is when an animal looks like another animal to scare off its predator. Plants also use mimicry. Batesian mimicry is when a harmless animal looks like a dangerous or poisonous animal. An example of this is how the coral snake and the king snake look alot alike but the coral snake is poisonous and the king snake is harmless. The viceroy butterfly and monarch butterfly is an example of Mullerian mimicry. Mullerian mimicry is where two species that are equal in toxins mimic each other to help each other. Aggressive mimicry is used by the angler fish to catch its prey. The angler fish wiggles things on its head that look like long antenna. When it does other fish think the antennas are

smaller fish and get closer to attack and that when they get eaten. Cryptic coloration is when an animal look so much like an object that its almost impossible to see the animal. Examples of this is the walking stick that looks like a twig, the katydid that looks like a leaf, and the praying mantis that can

look like a leaf and a twig. The eyespots on butterflies trick birds into thinking the butterfly is bigger than it actually is. This shows how animals use camouflage and mimicry to protect themselves.

Camouflage and Mimicry

About Me:
My name is Zach Demaree. Um...
Animals are a big deal to me, and
also bowling. I'm kinda of a bowling
addict. I plan on Majoring in Zoology,
and minoring in Veterinary Care.

Essay:CAMOUFLAGE AND MIMICRY

An animal uses camouflage to blend in with its environment. Camouflage is the use of color, pattern, and shape to look like the things around you.

Predators, or hunters, will use camouflage to help them catch food. Prey, or the ones being hunted, will use camouflage to keep from being caught. Many animals use color to help them hide. The polar bear's white fur keeps him hidden in the snow. Grasshoppers and lynx spiders use their green color to hide among the leaves and stems of plants. Crab spiders use color when they are hunting. See how the crab spider in the photo uses its yellow color to blend in while it waits for an insect to land.

Some animals, like the octopus, can even change their color to match their environment. The octopus can also change the texture of its skin to look bumpy like the rocks where it is hiding. The walking stick and the skeleton shrimp also copy both the shapes and colors of the plants. You have to look closely to tell which are the branches and which are the animals.

Pattern is another way of using camouflage. The stripes on a tiger blend in well when it is hidden in the tall grass. The halibut, or flat fish, has spotted skin that helps it to blend in when it buries itself in the sand.

Mimicry is using shape, color, and pattern to look like another animal, often one that is dangerous. The monarch butterfly tastes bad to birds, so they will not eat it. The viceroy butterfly mimics, or copies, the pattern and color of the monarch butterfly's wings so that birds will leave it alone, too. Some caterpillars and fish have large spots on their bodies. From a distance, these spots look like the eyes of a much larger animal. The jumping spider in the photo mimics the shape and color of the red ants that it hunts.

LINKS:
www.saczoo.com/3_kids/20_camouflage/camouflage_intro.htm
camouflage.unfiction.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camouflage
www.thewildones.org/Animals/camo.html
animal.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060102/spider.html