Editing Camouflage (section)

=== Motion dazzle ===

{{Distinguish|dazzle camouflage}}

[[File:Chapman-Zebra.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[zebra]]'s bold pattern may induce motion dazzle in observers]]

Most forms of camouflage are made ineffective by movement: a deer or grasshopper may be highly cryptic when motionless, but instantly seen when it moves. But one method, motion dazzle, requires rapidly moving bold patterns of contrasting stripes.<ref name=Scott-Samuel/> Motion dazzle may degrade predators' ability to estimate the prey's speed and direction accurately, giving the prey an improved chance of escape.<ref name=StevensMotionDazzle>{{Cite journal |journal=BMC Biology |volume=9 |pages=9–81 |doi=10.1186/1741-7007-9-81 |pmid=22117898 |pmc=3257203 |title=Motion dazzle and camouflage as distinct anti-predator defenses |date=25 November 2011 |author1=Stevens, Martin |author1-link=Martin Stevens (biologist) |author2=Searle, W. T. L. |author3=Seymour, J. E. |author4=Marshall, K. L. A. |author5=Ruxton, Graeme D. |author5-link=Graeme Ruxton |doi-access=free }}</ref> Motion dazzle distorts speed perception and is most effective at high speeds; stripes can also distort perception of size (and so, perceived range to the target). As of 2011, motion dazzle<!-- NOT THE SAME as "Dazzle Camouflage" --> had been proposed for military vehicles, but never applied.<ref name=Scott-Samuel>{{cite journal |title=Dazzle Camouflage Affects Speed Perception |author1=Scott-Samuel, N. E. |author2=Baddeley, R. |author3=Palmer, C. E. |author4=Cuthill, Innes C. |author4-link=Innes Cuthill |journal=PLOS ONE |date=June 2011 |volume=6 |issue=6 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0020233 |editor1-last=Burr |editor1-first=David C. |page=e20233 |pmid=21673797 |pmc=3105982|bibcode=2011PLoSO...620233S |doi-access=free }}</ref> Since motion dazzle patterns<!--this is not WWI-style "dazzle painting"--> would make animals more difficult to locate accurately when moving, but easier to see when stationary, there would be an evolutionary trade-off between motion dazzle and crypsis.<ref name=StevensMotionDazzle/>

An animal that is commonly thought to be dazzle-patterned is the [[zebra]]. The bold stripes of the zebra have been claimed to be disruptive camouflage,{{sfn|Cott|1940|page=94}} background-blending and countershading.{{sfn|Thayer|1909|page=136}}{{efn|The belly of the zebra is white, and the dark stripes narrow towards the belly, so the animal is certainly countershaded, but this does not prove that the main function of the stripes is camouflage.}} After many years in which the purpose of the coloration was disputed,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Contrasting coloration in terrestrial mammals |last=Caro |first=Tim |author-link=Tim Caro |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B |year=2009 |volume=364 |pages=537–548 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2008.0221 |pmc=2674080 |issue=1516 |pmid=18990666}}</ref> an experimental study by [[Tim Caro]] suggested in 2012 that the pattern reduces the attractiveness of stationary models to biting flies such as [[Horse-fly|horseflies]] and [[Tsetse fly|tsetse flies]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Waage |first=J. K. |year=1981 |title=How the zebra got its stripes: biting flies as selective agents in the evolution of zebra colouration |journal=J. Entom. Soc. South Africa |volume=44 |pages=351–358}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Polarotactic tabanids find striped patterns with brightness and/or polarization modulation least attractive: an advantage of zebra stripes |last1=Egri |first1=Ádám |last2=Blahó |first2=Miklós |last3=Kriska |first3=György  |author4=Farkas, Róbert |author5=Gyurkovszky, Mónika |author6=Åkesson, Susanne  |author7=Horváth, Gábor |display-authors=3 |journal=The Journal of Experimental Biology |date=March 2012 |volume=215 |pages=736–745 |doi=10.1242/jeb.065540 |issue=5 |pmid=22323196|doi-access=free |bibcode=2012JExpB.215..736E }}</ref> However, a simulation study by Martin How and Johannes Zanker in 2014 suggests that when moving, the stripes may confuse observers, such as mammalian predators and biting insects, by two [[visual illusion]]s: the [[wagon-wheel effect]], where the perceived motion is inverted, and the [[barberpole illusion]], where the perceived motion is in a wrong direction.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:319813/UQ319813.pdf|title=Motion camouflage induced by zebra stripes |last1=How |first1=Martin J. |last2=Zanker |first2=Johannes M. |journal=Zoology |year=2014 |pages=163–170 |doi=10.1016/j.zool.2013.10.004 |pmid=24368147 |volume=117|issue=3 |bibcode=2014Zool..117..163H }}</ref>