PowerPoint Presentation

DISAPPEARING ACTAnimals protect themselves by camouflaging using colours. Camouflage means to hide using the colours on their bodies to blend in with their surroundings. Read about some of the fascinating ways animals use their colours to protect themselves.The ptarmigan is a type of bird. It changes its colours to match the seasons. In summer, its feathers have the colours of the earth and the grass where it lives. In winter it loses the greenish brown feathers. They are replaced by white ones. This is called moulting. This makes the ptarmigan difficult to be spotted in the snow.

The chameleon is the master of disguise. It can change colour very quickly. When it is on the ground, it has green and yellow spots to match the ground. When it is on a tree, it turns completely green to blend in with its surroundings. The chameleon also changes colour when it is frightened or threatened.

The moth, especially the buff-tip moth, has wings which are of the same colours as the tree branches where it lives. It sometimes wraps its wings tightly around its body to look like a brownish broken twig.

The Artic hare is grey-brown in summer. This makes it blends in with the surroundings. This is also one way it will not fall prey to eagles. In winter, to avoid being detected, a coat of pure white fur grows instead.

The stick or twig insect has the same colour as a stick. That is why it is called a stick or twig insect. It sits very still on a branch. Since it is of the same colour as the branch, it is nearly impossible to be spotted.

Some turtles have flat and smooth shells with designs that look like pebbles. This helps them to hide in the river bed so that their predators are not able to see them.

The Australian leaf-tailed gecko blends beautifully with the bark of a tree trunk. It looks almost invisible against the bark.