camaflage and miminry by patrick

Evolution
Camouflage, mimicry
By: Patrick Milberger

1. Camouflage and mimicry are a form of adaptation that certain animals have to help them survive in the wild. These adaptation have been past down through genes from one generation to the next allowing the animal species to survive and reproduce and again passes on the trait that has keep them alive.
This is call natural selection. Is a form of evolution that states that only the best can survive and reproduce. When an animal with good traits that can help it survive in that area reproduces, its offspring will also have that trait to and hopefully survive and reproduce as well.

2. Examples of camouflage
Camouflage in the wild is used to hide from prey so that they do not get killed and eaten. The use of the correct type of camouflage in the appropriate area is what keeps the animal alive like the tree frog whose gray green coloration on a gray green tree allows it to blend in and avoid being seen.
-Gray tree frogs are one of the best frogs at camouflage. They can blend in to most of their surroundings perfectly which prevents them from being found by predators, so they survive longer and are able to reproduce. Whereas a frog without the camouflage effect who is also sitting on the tree is seen and eaten removing the unhelpful trait from the gene pool.

Both of these frogs are camouflaged to look like the trees they are sitting.





























- The Chameleon is one of the best examples of camouflage in the world. It can change its skin color to match its background no matter where it is. This is one of the many defensive abilities that allow the chameleon to survive.




















3. Examples of mimicry
Mimicry in the wild is not entirely different form camouflage. In the sense that weaker less harmful animal are camouflaging themselves as a stronger and more dangerous animals. To make predators think they are something that they are not. Most of the animals the use mimicry as protection have no other defenses to protect themselves with, or they have weaker less harmful abilities that are only used to hunt prey.
- One example is the scarlet king snake that is a non- venomous snake. It does not have many defenses to prevent predators from attacking it, but what it does have is the looks of the eastern coral snake that is very venoms and most predators avoid.
















- One of the coolest animals that mimic other animals to survive is the mimic octopus.
This octopus has the uncanny ability to morph its body shape to look like different fish in the sea so as to avoid detection by predators. These animals can manipulate their body to both look and act like other animals, such as the sea snake, lionfish, flatfish, brittle stars, giant crabs, sea shells, stingrays, jellyfish, sea anemones, and mantis shrimp.

This particular octopus is posing as a flat fish.

















Natural selection is a type of evolution that makes the most since to me instead of animals randomly gets a trait that helps them survive natural helps pick those creature most likely to survive in one particular area. And they then multiply and spread that trait to those of there kind allowing there species to survive over the long course of time.











http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimic_Octopus
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0305/p18s02-hfks.html
http://www.littlemiami.com/index021406.html
http://www.mun.ca/biology/scarr/2900_Natural_Selection_in_the_Wild.htm
http://www.carsam.com/Chameleon.html
http://www.cites.org/gallery/species/reptile/canopy_chameleon.html

Camouflage and Mimicry

About Me:

My name is Destin, some people just call me D. I go to Olathe North Senior High School. Baseball is my main objective in life, but I play any other sports for the fun of it.

Camouflage:

In nature there is a lot of pressure for animals of all kinds to blend into their environment or hide their shape. For prey, they need to be able to hide from predators and predators need to be able to sneak up on prey to be able to catch their food.
Natural camouflage is one method animals use to make this possible. There are many ways of doing this. Being able to blend into the environment is one way and disguising itself as something uninteresting or dangerous is another.
Animals have a permanent co-evolution of the sensory abilities which is beneficial to be able to detect animals in camouflage, and the cryptic characteristics of the concealing species. Different species of predator-prey have more or less pronounced abilities of sensory.
Some animals also simulate natural movement by acting like a leaf in the wind or a branch on a tree. For Example, the stick bug literally looks like a stick or branch on a plant. Other animals will attach different materials to their body for concealment like algae, dirt, leaves, etc. For example, a decorator crab literally attaches algae or anything that is laying around in its environment to conceal itself.
A few creatures can change color to changing environments, either rapidly or seasonally depending on the species. For example, a chameleon can change its color rapidly do conceal itself if it changes environments or the snowshoe hare changes grows white hair during the winter as a winter coat and as concealment in the snow. Some aquatic animals go to drastic measures by covering their sent that might attract predators.
Some group species use similar patterns to make it difficult to find a single animal in the group. For example, the reflective scales on a fish or the stripes on a zebra can confuse prey on where one animal stops and another begins if the herd stays together.
Cryptic coloration is the most common form of camouflage and is found in most species. The simplest way for an animal to blend in is to be the same color as its surroundings. Examples, are deer, squirrels, or moles are colored to match trees or dirt. Sharks use a type of counter shading and are blue skinned on top and have white underbellies so its hard for them to be detected from above or below. More complex match coloring to their environment are on flounder, moths, and frogs.
The type of camouflage a species will depend on the environment it lives in, the behavior of the animal, and if the animal is hunted by any other animal. Animals produce colors in two different ways. Biochromes are natural microscopic pigments that absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others. Other way an animal gets its coloring is microscopic physical structures that act like prisms to reflect and scatter light to produce a color different that the color of the skin. Overall camouflage is very important in nature and a lot of factors effect exactly how or why a certain species uses camouflage.

Mimicry:

Mimicry is when a certain species has evolved to share common outward characteristics with another species or the same species, including auto mimicry which is when one part of the animal looks like another part. The distinction between mimicry and camouflage is the model of camouflage is not another organism but an environment while in mimicry the model is another organism.
The most commonly known kind of mimicry is visual, but other types are smell or signal mimicry. Signal mimicry is used to mess with the receiver by sending miss leading information. Mimics can have multiple shapes or models during their life cycle or they might just be polymorphic where different individual animals mimic different things.
Defensive mimicry is when an organism is able to avoid a would be predator or trick a predator into mistaking them for something else. Four types of this are batesian mimicry, where a harmless organism acts harmful. Mullerian mimicry, where two harmful species share similar characteristics, Mertensian mimicry, where a deadly organism acts less harmful but lesson teaching organism, and Vavilovian mimicry, where weeds resemble crops.
Aggressive mimicry is when predators share the same looks as a harmless species which allows them to avoid detection by their prey. An example of this is the Golden Orb Weaver which spins a conspicuous golden colored web in well lighted areas which the yellow pigment in the web confuses bees with the color that is the same as many nectar bearing flowers.
Another form of mimicry is based on patterns. Some species of spiders put patters such as zigzags in their web. These reflect ultraviolet light and mimics the pattern in many flowers known as nectar guides. The spiders change their web day to day to make sure the bee doesn’t remember the web patterns.
Another example of mimicry is where males are lured towards what would seem to be a sexually receptive female. For example, female fireflies emit the same light signals that females of the species Photinus use as a mating signal. Male fireflies from different species are attracted to this “light show” and are usually caught and eaten.
Another technique is where a species uses a lure or some sort to lure prey close enough to be captured. An example of this is an angler fish which lives deep down in the ocean that uses a lure attached to his head that it dances out in front of its face until prey gets close enough to snap down on.
Overall mimicry is very different than camouflage. They are both used to avoid being eaten or make it easier to eat, but the concept of mimicry is to look like something else to fool predators or prey while camouflage is used to hide from predators or prey.


Sites:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimicry
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camouflage
• http://ellerbruch.nmu.edu/classes/cs255w03/cs255students/nsovey/P6/P6.html
• http://il.essortment.com/animalcamouflag_rezr.htm
• http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ANIMAL+CAMOUFLAGE-a067629640

Top Five Animals that are Best fit to live in a Desert.

About me: My name is Thea. I'm in High School. I really love music, and sleeping, and eating, and blinking, and breathing. You know...normal things people do every second of the day just to stay alive. I really enjoy the class I'm in right now. It practically keeps me sane. Besides this one kid on my team called Destin...ha-ha. He is going to read this and get mad. Anyway, my teacher expects us to each type 1000 words, but I can promise that this probably wont be close....So that’s me. Enjoy reading.


In my post you will view the top 5 animals that are best fit to live in a desert environment, and read about why they are fit to do so. This also includes pictures.
There will be one maybe two animal(s) from each category. The categories are Birds, Mammals, Amphibians, and Reptiles.


Animal Number one is.....The Camel!
Why you ask? Allow me to explain.

Camels are able to drink large amounts of water in one day.
so it lasts them for quite sometime.
You may be thinking, don’t their humps hold water?
No. Their humps are actually just fatty tissue!
But the humps to give them an added energy.
A feature of their nostrils is that a large amount of water vapor in their exhalations is trapped and returned to their body fluids, thereby reducing the amount of water lost through respiration.




Animal number two is...The Ostrich.
Let me tell you why.
The Ostrich is a fast runner.
The Ostrich can reach sprinting speeds of 40 miles per hour. That’s pretty fast.
The Ostrich does not stick its head in the sand. It does lay down when it senses predators are near which may give the appearance that its head is in the sand.




Animal three is....The Sidewinder Rattle Snake.
Now, lets tell you why.
The name Sidewinder is derived from the snake's sideways movement. The S-shaped movement allows the snake to move quickly across the desert floor. Thus avoiding touching the hot ground. Also, They have supraocular scales above its eyes. This adaptation may help shade the eyes or prevent sand drifting over them as the snake lies almost buried in the sand.





Animal Number four is...The Sonoran Desert Toad!
why?
The Sonoran Desert Toad will secrete a toxin when attacked. If a predator picks up a toad in its mouth the predator may become sick or even die. The toxin is a hallucinogen. So I’m pretty sure that if someone attempted to eat this buddy...it’s going to get messed up.





Animal Number five is...The Kangaroo Rat!
Well here is why!
Kangaroo Rats have large and powerful hind legs that resemble those of a Kangaroo's. They use their legs to protect themselves, dig their burrows and hop away from predators much like Kangaroos do. They are not related to Kangaroos even thought they have the name and some similarities. ALSO! They have pouches on the sides of their mouths that can be used for carrying food. So they can run around for a while with food that’s being saved.

Camouflage and Mimicry by Heather

About Me:

My name is Heather but my closest friends call me H-Dawg. I like school ok. I go to Life Church with some of the coolest people on the planet. I don't play any sports because I'm not that cool. I listen to music a lot. I like rap and rock music. I want to go to an art school either in Colorado, Florida, of Georgia. I want to study photography and become a famous fashion or portrait photographer.


Camouflage And Mimicry:

Mimicry is a situation in which an organism,the mimic, shares characteristic with another organism, the model, through action of a single-receiver or "dupe". This is known as mimicry complex. The model is usually voluntary except in the cases of automimicry.Automimicry occurs inside of a single species. An example being when part of an organism's body resembles anther's.

Camouflage allows a seemingly visible organism to blend in or become very discrete in its surroundings.Camouflage is essentially a form of mimicry. Camouflage is a form of deception.Camouflage can be colors or patterns or both. When organisms are camouflaged, they are harder to find. This means predators have to spend longer finding them.

A tiger's stripes are an example of camouflage. A tiger's stripes help it blend into tall grass.Its golden strips blend in with the grass and the dark brown and black stripes merge with dark shadows. Tigers are the largest of four "big cats". They are the largest feline in the world. Bengal tigers consist of eighty percent of the tiger population.














Polar bears are an example of camouflage. Their seemingly white fur (although it is actually translucent)is a good disguise for them in their arctic surroundings. Polar bears have black skin under their fur. They have small ears and a small head to keep them from losing body heat. The polar bear is a semi-aquatic marine mammal. They have adapted to living on land, in the sea, and on ice. The polar bear is one of the largest carnivores with males weighing 600 to 300 kilograms and females weighing half of what the males do.













Coral snakes are an example of mimicry. Their coloration is similar to that of the milk snake and scarlet kingsnake. Coral snakes have the same coloration as the scarlet kingsnake and milk snakes. They have a coloration of red, yellow, and black stripes. While the scarlet and milk snake are non-venomous the coral snake is venomous. The coloration fools its prey into thinking that it is a non-venomous snake and it is able to easily attack its prey.



















The Viceroy and Monarch butterflies are an example of mimicry. The Viceroy looks almost exactly identical to the Monarch. Monarchs taste disgusting and Viceroy taste good. Predators that eat Viceroy may accidentally eat a Monarch thinking its a tasty Viceroy based upon its appearance.

Viceroy Butterfly
Monarch Butterfly


















http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimicry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camouflage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_snake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceroy_butterfly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_Butterfly
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/adaptations/mimicry.html