Camouflage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about protective camouflage used to disguise people, animals, or military targets. For other uses, see Camouflage (disambiguation).
Camouflage is the method which allows an otherwise visible organism or object to remain indiscernible from the surrounding environment. Examples include a tiger's stripes and the battledress of a modern soldier. Camouflage is a form of deception. The word camouflage comes from the French word 'camoufler' meaning 'to disguise'.
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[edit] Camouflage in nature
Camouflage by its very nature is intended for animals to help avoid detection by predators or prey. There are a number of methods of doing so. One is for the animal to blend in with its surroundings, another is for the animal to disguise itself as something uninteresting or something dangerous.
[edit] Camouflaging coloration
This is the most common form of camouflage, found to some extent in the majority of species. The simplest way is for an animal to be of a color similar its surroundings. Examples include the "earth tones" of deer, squirrels, or moles (to match trees or dirt), or the combination of blue skin and white underbelly of sharks (which makes them difficult to detect from both above and below). More complex patterns can be seen in animals such as flounder, moths, and frogs, among many others.
The type of camouflage a species will develop depends on several factors:
- The environment in which it lives. This is usually the most important factor.
- The physiology and behavior of an animal. Animals with fur need different camouflage than those with feathers or scales. Likewise, animals who live in groups use different camouflage techniques than those that are solitary.
- If the animal is preyed upon, then the behavior or characteristics of its predator can influence how the camouflage develops. For example, if the predator is color blind, then the animal will not need to match the color of its surroundings.
Animals produce colors in two ways:
- Biochromes — natural microscopic pigments that absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others, creating a visible color that is targeted towards it primary predator.
- Microscopic physical structures, which act like prisms to reflect and scatter light to produce a color that is different from the skin, such as the translucent fur of the Polar Bear, which actually has black skin.
Camouflage coloration can change as well. This can be due to just a changing of the seasons, or it can be in response to more rapid environmental changes. For example, the Arctic fox has a white coat in winter, and a brown coat in summer. Mammals and birds require a new fur coat and new set of feathers respectively, but some animals, such as cuttlefish, have deeper-level pigment cells, called chromatophores, that they can control. Other animals such as certain fish species or the nudibranch can actually change their skin coloration by changing their diet. However, the most well-known creature that changes color, the chameleon, usually does not do so for camouflage purposes, but instead to express its mood.
Beyond colors, skin patterns are often helpful in camouflage as well. This can be seen in common domestic pets such as tabby cats, but striping overall in other animals such as tigers and zebras help them blend into their environment, the jungle and the grasslands respectively. The latter two provide an interesting example, as one's initial impression might be that their coloration does not match their surroundings at all, but tigers' prey are usually color blind to a certain extent such that they cannot tell the difference between orange and green, and zebras' main predators, lions, are color blind. In the case of zebras, the stripes also blend together so that a herd of zebras looks like one large mass, making it difficult for a lion to pick out any individual zebra. This same concept is used by many striped fish species as well.
[edit] Disguise
The camouflage technique of disguise is not as common as coloration, but can be found throughout nature as well. Animals may disguise themselves as something uninteresting in the hopes that their predators will ignore them, or as something dangerous so that predators will avoid them.
The most famous example of the former is the stick insect, which looks like a stick, as well as its cousin the leaf insect, which looks like a leaf.
Disguising oneself as something dangerous is known as mimicry, such as the case of a Scarlet Kingsnake which looks like the poisonous coral snake.
[edit] Military camouflage
Camouflage was not in wide use in early warfare. 19th century armies tended to use bright colors and bold, impressive designs. These were intended to daunt the enemy, attract recruits, foster unit cohesion, or allow easier identification of units in the fog of war.
Smaller, irregular units of scouts in the 18th century were the first to adopt colors in drab shades of brown and green. Major armies retained their color until convinced otherwise. The British in India in 1857 were forced by casualties to dye their red tunics to neutral tones, initially a muddy tan called khaki (from the Urdu word for 'dusty'). White tropical uniforms were dyed by the simple expedient of soaking them in tea. This was only a temporary measure. It became standard in Indian service in the 1880s, but it was not until the Second Boer War that, in 1902, the uniforms of the entire British army were standardized on this dun tone for battledress. Other armies, such as the United States, Russia, Italy, and Germany followed suit either with khaki, or with other colors more suitable for their environments.
[edit] Camouflage in fashion and art
The transfer of camouflage patterns from battle to exclusively civilian uses is a recent phenomenon. While many hundreds of artists were involved in the development of camouflage during and since WW I the disparate sympathies of the two cultures restrained the use of "militaristic" forms in works other than those of war artists. Since the 1960s however artists have seized upon camouflage as a means to twist and subvert it away from its military origins and symbolism. The concept of camouflage - to conceal and distort shapes - is also a popular artistic tool.
Artists using camouflage include:
- Andy Warhol (notably his 1986 camouflage series, his last major work)
- Alain Jacquet (extraordinarily prolific in camouflage works from 1961 into the 1970s)
- Ian Hamilton Finlay, Vera von Lehndorff (aka Veruschka) and Holger Trülzsch (Nature, Signs & Animals, Mimicry-Dress-Art, all 1970-73)
- Thomas Hirschhorn (Utopia : One World, One War, One Army, One Dress, 2005).
Camouflage garments had a similarly hesitant adoption, although military styling has a long history of civilian use. Military patterns initially found civilian markets amongst hunters and, through military surplus, in those seeking clothing that was tough, well-made, and cheap in the United States and other countries. The steady output from countries using a National Service model was influential and several countries (initially the 'winning' sides of WW II, where there was less negative connection with military-wear) became significant markets. In the United States in the 1960s military clothing became increasingly common (mostly olive drab rather than patterned camouflage), interestingly it was often found worn by anti-war protestors, initially groups such as Vietnam Veterans Against the War but then increasingly widely as a symbol of political protest. It is a felony in the United States to wear "any distinctive part" of a US military uniform[citation needed]. In the years after the Vietnam War, camouflage military clothing became very popular among many people, replacing olive-drab military clothing.
The 'rebellious' links of civilian camouflage diminshed through the 1970s and beyond as more mainstream groups adopted a style seen as youthful and anti-establishment. Fashion, trailing the world as usual, has become increasingly eager to adopt camouflage - attracted by the striking designs, the "patterned disorder" of camouflage, its symbolism (to be celebrated or subverted (vide its use by Hello Kitty)), and its versatility. Early designers include Jean-Charles de Castelbajac (1975-), Roland Chakal (1970), Stephen Sprouse (using Warhol prints, 1987-1988), and Franco Moschino (1986), but it was not until the 1990s that camouflage became a significant and widespread facet of dress from streetwear to high-fashion labels - especially the use of "faux-camouflage". Producers using camouflage in the 1990s and beyond include: John Galliano for Christian Dior, Marc Jacobs for Louis Vitton, Commes des Garcons, Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana, Issey Miyake, Armani, Yves Saint-Laurent, and others.
Certain companies have become very closely associated with camouflage patterns (such as Maharishi and mhi, Zoo York, Addict, 6876, A Bathing Ape, Stone Island, and Girbaud), using and overprinting genuine military surplus fabric and have also extended the patterns by creating their own designs or integrating camouflage patterns with other symbols. The use of original patterns in new (often bright) colors is also common.
Some countries such as Barbados, Aruba and other Caribbean nations have strict laws that prohibit camouflage clothing from being worn by non-military personnel, including tourists and children.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
- Advertising colouration - another opposite defense for animals
- Everett Warner
- Dazzle camouflage
[edit] References
- Harris, Tom. How Animal Camouflage Works. How Stuff Works. Retrieved on 2006-11-13.
- How do a zebra's stripes act as camouflage?. How Stuff Works. Retrieved on 2006-11-13.
- Roy R. Behrens - Art and Camouflage: An Annotated Bibliography
- Behrens, Roy R. (2002). FALSE COLORS: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage. Bobolink Books. ISBN 0-9713244-0-9.
- Everett L. Warner, “The Science of Marine Camouflage Design” in Transactions of the Illuminating Engineering Society 14 (5) 1919, pp. 215-219.
- Everett L. Warner, “Fooling the Iron Fish: The Inside Story of Marine Camouflage” in Everybody’s Magazine (November 1919), pp. 102-109.
[edit] External links
- Roy R. Behrens, "The Thinking Eye: a Chronology of Camouflage" 2006
- "An informal study into camoflage"
Topics in evolutionary ecology
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| Patterns of evolution: Convergent evolution | Evolutionary relay | Parallel evolution |
| Colour and shape: Aposematism | Mimicry | Crypsis |
| Interactions between species: Mutualism | Cooperation | Predation | Parasitism |
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