OLogy Cards > camouflage

Seasonal Disguises
Some animals change their appearance to match their changing environments. For example, an animal's home may change with the seasons: a forest may be mostly green or brown in the summer, then white with snow in the winter. Some mammals and birds change their fur or feathers to match these changes. That's why the Arctic fox is brown in the summer and white in the winter. But what about animals like fish or lizards that don't have fur or feathers? Color changes in these animals take place in cells deep below the skin's surface. These cells are called chromatophores. Cuttlefish use chromatophores to change into many different colors and patterns to blend in with all kinds of backgrounds.

You Are What You Eat!
For some animals, the old saying "you are what you eat" takes on a whole new meaning. These animals change color depending on their diet. When one animal eats another, it consumes some of the prey's pigment—the stuff that gives a plant or animal its color. Sometimes this pigment shows through and actually changes the color of the predator! One example is a small sea animal called the nudibranch, which lives among coral reefs. When the nudibranch eats a coral, it takes on the color of the coral. The nudibranch is constantly changing colors as it moves from coral to coral.