Perfect Natural Camouflage

Not long ago I wrote about the sort of camouflage we humans wear in an attempt to conceal ourselves from wildlife.

I’ve been pondering on nature’s natural camouflage recently. There’s some pretty good stuff out there. Here’s a picture of a Little owl I took last week hiding against the trunk of an old oak. Little owls and Tawny owl’s have the same sort of camouflage to allow them to be hidden against tree trunks during the day exactly like this.

Mammals are slightly different. The likes of rabbits and deer don’t have any dappled effect, choosing instead to blend in with a single natural colour of the woodland. Most Fallow deer change colour depending on the season but I wondered why they are almost grey in the winter.

Even though they were leaders in developing camouflage uniforms, German soldiers fighting in Europe during the early part of the second world war used a grey colour or "feldgrau" while us Brits were still blundering about in khaki. Khaki, by the way, eminated from the stained colour of tea that soldiers used in an attempt to camouflage their kit while fighting in India in the late 1800's. Perhaps not that effective in European woods especially in winter. But again why did the Germans choose grey?

I took this photo at the weekend and it probably explains why grey is so effective. The grey/brown of the woodland floor and the grey trunks of the trees says it all. You’ll have to look pretty closely to identify the deer. Almost perfect I’d say.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.