Editing Camouflage (section)

=== Disruptive coloration ===

{{main|disruptive coloration}}

[[File:Disruptive Coloration by Hugh Cott 1940.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Illustration of the principle of "maximum disruptive contrast" by [[Hugh Cott]], 1940]]

Disruptive patterns use strongly contrasting, non-repeating markings such as spots or stripes to break up the outlines of an animal or military vehicle,<ref name=Barbosa>{{cite journal |title=Cuttlefish camouflage: The effects of substrate contrast and size in evoking uniform, mottle or disruptive body patterns |last1=Barbosa |first1=A. |last2=Mathger |first2=L. M. |last3=Buresch |first3=K. C. |author4=Kelly, J. |author5=Chubb, C. |author6=Chiao, C. |author7=Hanlon R. T. |journal=Vision Research |year=2008 |volume=48 |pages=1242–1253 |doi=10.1016/j.visres.2008.02.011 |pmid=18395241 |issue=10|s2cid=16287514 |doi-access=free }}</ref> or to conceal telltale features, especially [[disruptive eye mask|by masking the eyes]], as in the [[common frog]].{{sfn|Cott|1940|pages=83–91}} Disruptive patterns may use more than one method to defeat visual systems such as [[edge detection]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Osorio |first1=Daniel |last2=Cuthill |first2=Innes C. |author2-link=Innes Cuthill |url=http://www.gestaltrevision.be/pdfs/oxford/Osorio&Cuthill-Camouflage_and_perceptual_organization_in_the_animal_kingdom.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193153/http://www.gestaltrevision.be/pdfs/oxford/Osorio&Cuthill-Camouflage_and_perceptual_organization_in_the_animal_kingdom.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-29 |url-status=live |title=Camouflage and perceptual organization in the animal kingdom |access-date=25 October 2013}}</ref> Predators like the [[leopard]] use disruptive camouflage to help them approach prey, while potential prey use it to avoid detection by predators.<ref name=Disruptive>{{cite journal |title=Disruptive contrast in animal camouflage |last1=Stevens |first1=Martin |author1-link=Martin Stevens (biologist) |last2=Cuthill |first2=Innes C. |author2-link=Innes Cuthill |author3=Windsor, A. M. M. |author4=Walker, H. J. |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |date=7 October 2006 |volume=273 |issue=1600 |pages=2433–2436 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2006.3614 |pmc=1634902 |pmid=16959632}}</ref> Disruptive patterning is common in military usage, both for uniforms and for military vehicles. Disruptive patterning, however, does not always achieve crypsis on its own, as an animal or a military target may be given away by factors like shape, shine, and shadow.<ref name="Sweet">{{cite book |title=Transportation and Cargo Security: Threats and Solutions |publisher=Prentice Hall |last=Sweet |first=K. M. |year=2006 |page=219 |isbn=978-0-13-170356-8}}</ref><ref name=fm5-20>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/Fm5-201944 |title=FM 5–20: Camouflage, Basic Principles |publisher=U.S. War Department |orig-year=1944 |date=November 2015}}</ref><ref name='FM 20-3'>{{cite book |publisher=Department of the Army |title=Field Manual Headquarters No. 20-3 − Camouflage, Concealment, and Decoys |date=30 August 1999 |url=https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/attp3-34-39.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117211145/https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/attp3-34-39.pdf |archive-date=17 November 2021}}</ref>

The presence of bold skin markings does not in itself prove that an animal relies on camouflage, as that depends on its behaviour.<ref name=Roosevelt>{{cite journal |title=Revealing and concealing coloration in birds and mammals |last=Roosevelt |first=Theodore |author-link=Theodore Roosevelt |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |year=1911 |volume=30 |issue=Article 8 |pages=119–231|hdl = 2246/470}} Roosevelt attacks Thayer on page 191, arguing that neither zebra nor giraffe are "'adequately obliterated' by countershading or coloration pattern or anything else."</ref> For example, although [[giraffe]]s have a high contrast pattern that could be disruptive coloration, the adults are very conspicuous when in the open. Some authors have argued that adult giraffes are cryptic, since when standing among trees and bushes they are hard to see at even a few metres' distance.<ref name="Mitchell2003">{{cite journal |author1=Mitchell, G. |author2=Skinner, J. D. |year=2003 |title=On the origin, evolution and phylogeny of giraffes ''Giraffa camelopardalis'' |journal=Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=51–73 |doi=10.1080/00359190309519935 |bibcode=2003TRSSA..58...51M |s2cid=6522531 |url=http://www.bringyou.to/GiraffeEvolution.pdf |access-date=26 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923194550/http://www.bringyou.to/GiraffeEvolution.pdf |archive-date=23 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, adult giraffes move about to gain the best view of an approaching predator, relying on their size and ability to defend themselves, even from lions, rather than on camouflage.<ref name="Mitchell2003"/> A different explanation is implied by young giraffes being far more vulnerable to predation than adults. More than half of all giraffe calves die within a year,<ref name="Mitchell2003"/> and giraffe mothers hide their newly born calves, which spend much of the time lying down in cover while their mothers are away feeding. The mothers return once a day to feed their calves with milk. Since the presence of a mother nearby does not affect survival, it is argued that these juvenile giraffes must be very well camouflaged; this is supported by coat markings being strongly [[Heredity|inherited]].<ref name="Mitchell2003"/>

The possibility of [[camouflage in plants]] was little studied until the late 20th century. Leaf [[variegation]] with white spots may serve as camouflage in forest [[understory]] plants, where there is a dappled background; leaf mottling is correlated with closed habitats. Disruptive camouflage would have a clear evolutionary advantage in plants: they would tend to escape from being eaten by [[herbivore]]s. Another possibility is that some plants have leaves differently coloured on upper and lower surfaces or on parts such as veins and stalks to make green-camouflaged insects conspicuous, and thus benefit the plants by favouring the removal of herbivores by carnivores. These hypotheses are testable.<ref name="Lev-Yadun 2003 pp. 483–489">{{cite journal |last=Lev-Yadun |first=Simcha |title=Why do some thorny plants resemble green zebras? |journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology |volume=224 |issue=4 |year=2003 |doi=10.1016/s0022-5193(03)00196-6 |pmid=12957121 |pages=483–489|bibcode=2003JThBi.224..483L }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lev-Yadun |first=Simcha |year=2006 |chapter=Defensive coloration in plants: a review of current ideas about anti-herbivore coloration strategies |title=Floriculture, ornamental and plant biotechnology: advances and topical issues. Vol. IV |editor=Teixeira da Silva, J.A. |publisher=Global Science Books |pages=292–299 |isbn=978-4903313092}}</ref><ref name="Givnish1990">{{cite journal |last=Givnish |first=T. J. |title=Leaf Mottling: Relation to Growth Form and Leaf Phenology and Possible Role as Camouflage |journal=Functional Ecology |jstor=2389314 |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=463–474 |year=1990 |doi=10.2307/2389314 |bibcode=1990FuEco...4..463G }}</ref>

<gallery class="center" mode="nolines" heights="150" widths="150">
File:Great male Leopard in South Afrika-JD.JPG|Leopard: a disruptively camouflaged predator
File:T-90 main battle tank (2).jpg|Russian T-90 battle tank painted in bold disruptive pattern of sand and green
File:Gaboon viper (4530693343).jpg|[[Gaboon viper]]'s bold markings are powerfully disruptive.
File:Ptarmigan and five chicks.JPG|A [[ptarmigan]] and five chicks exhibit exceptional disruptive camouflage
File:Jumping spider with prey.jpg|[[Jumping spider]]: a disruptively camouflaged invertebrate predator
File:Smilax bona-nox, Colt Creek State Park, Lakeland, Florida.jpg|Many [[understory]] plants such as the saw greenbriar, ''[[Smilax bona-nox]]'' have pale markings, possibly disruptive camouflage.
</gallery>