Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Invisible or in plain view?


How often has someone said to you, “Look at that!” as they point to a grassy area or rocky slope? You scratch your head and think, “Oh, I just missed it.” Then whatever “it” is moves and voila there it is. What was invisible is now seen. You have just been fooled by camouflage. Most animals use some camouflage techniques to increase their chance of survival. They go about their daily business blending into the environment, invisible to their nemesis and sometimes friends, like Superman hiding from Lois and Jimmy, blending in.
Usually coloration to match the background is used. Also design features, such as stripes or patterns, similar to the leaves or twigs where they spend their days, are mimicked. A Walking Stick is a good example of pretending to be what it’s not, or cocoons that look like dead leaves.

Disruptive coloration and pattern break up the natural contour of the body and help to make it invisible. I’m sure you have done that when you have chosen a belt or a patterned blouse to change how the shape of your own figure is perceived.

As naturalists we learn to develop a search image to locate species of interest. Once we find one, then magically we see more and more that were there all along. Sometimes this happens in my own personal life. Recently, I chanced to sit next to a coworker from a different department and we had a nice conversation. She had blended in with all the other employees and previously gone unnoticed by me. What or who is now visible to you…no longer camouflaged?



More ABC Wednesday here.

15 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Great word for the "I" word! And your photos are terrific! And they are pretty invisible, aren't they?

Have a great week!

Sylvia

Richard Lawry said...

Lovely I post. the cammo pictures are great. Sometimes I feel invisible. :)

An Arkies Musings

Linda Jacobs said...

Lucky you to get those incredible pictures!

Sunny said...

Nature is pretty amazing! Wonderful pictures.
Sunny :)

Leslie: said...

Great shots and narrative for today! I really enjoyed this. :D

Wanda..... said...

Great photos and commentary...I try to really see whats around me...at least here in my personal world!

~Cheryl said...

Incredible! The green one got me...I enlaraged it looking for something really small. Yes, I jumped!

Tumblewords: said...

What fun! Terrific photos and narrative.

Trillium said...

Excellent choice of topic for I!
YOu have some primo photos here. Love the way you made the human analogies. I read (in a police magazine of all places) that the human eye can see more variant shades of green than any other color. That is why green is used in night vision technology.

magiceye said...

very interesting

sema said...

interesting post with great images to match!

Roger Owen Green said...

I think we often miss the things around us. Maybe nature's intent, but it's nice to have a find in the midst of that.

WV: nutin (nothing, but NOT nothing)

~JarieLyn~ said...

This is a fabulous post. I enjoyed reading it and seeing the photos. There's always something to see if we look hard enough or look from a differnt angle. Love your last photo. Now, that's blending in.

Jay said...

I LOVE the green caterpillar! So pretty!

I often feel invisible myself!

Anonymous said...

Some of these animals are hard for me to see in the wild. I look for things and think I see them and then I don't. You do have some nice shots here.

My mom was born in Summers County, WV and we went back to Hinton last summer for a spell. Mom would have loved it but she passed some years ago in Texas. I just popped over from Carletta's blog.

Pick a Peck of Pixels