Writers’ Paradise

Many fish use camouflage, but the leafy seadragon has a clever disguise. Its body is covered with leaf-like flap,making it look like a piece of drifting weed. These seadragons live off the coast of southern Australia, close to seaweed-covered rocks.
-Butterfly like a leaf: Dead leaves often lie on the ground, so we hardly give them a second look. But in some places, they are not what they seem. The Indian butterfly, from Southern Asia, mimics dead leaves to avoid being seen. Lots of other insects including moths and leaf insects use the same kind of disguise.
-Imitation of snake: Most animals are frightened of snakes, even if they have never seen one. An elephant hawkmoth caterpillar uses this fear to protect itself. It has bright spots on the back of its head, which look like a pair of eyes. If the caterpillars are threatened by a bird, they pull in their heads, and then hunch into a snake like shape. Its a trick that can save a caterpillar’s life.
-Playing dead: Do animals ever play dead? Yes, they do-and it sometimes saves their lives. One of the greatest experts is the Virginia opossum, a marsupial from North America. If it is cornered by a predator, it curls up with its eyes half-open, just as if it has died of fright. Many predators hunt only living animals, so if the opossum plays dead, its enemy will lose interest and move on. When the coast is clear, the opossum miraculously comes back to life.
-Some spiders look like ants, and move in the same jerky way. Ants can bite and sting, so birds and lizards are tricked into leaving them alone.
-The devil’s coach horse beetle pretends to have a sting. It curls up its tail just like a scorpion.
-Hairstreak butterflies may have false heads on their hindwings. The false head draws birds away from the real head.
-For moths, looking like a wasp is a great way of keeping out of trouble. Dressed up in black and yellow stripes, and with two pairs of see-though wings, they look almost like the real thing. Birds-and most humans too-are fooled into thinking that they can sting. Copying wasps is a very common trick in the animal world. Thousands of specie of small animals, including flies and spiders, use it as a way to stay safe.

With so many hunters on the prowl, most animals need ways to get out of the trouble. Lots of them escape as fast as they can, using their legs, wings, or fins.
Disguise as Thorns: Lined up on a twig, treehoppers are not easy to see. They have a special trick for survival- they look exactly like thorns. Behind their heads they have a hard shield, which stretches up in a thorn-shaped spike. Treehoppers use their camouflage to protect themselves from hungry birds.Hares have only one way of protecting themselves- they run as fast as they can. They have extremely good eyesight, which means that they can start running when a predator is still a long way off. Instead of running in a straight line, hares zigzag their way across open countryside. This unusual technique makes it even harder for another animal to catch them.
Skunks don’t always take flight. If anything threatens them, they arch their backs and lift their tails to look threatening. If that doesn’t work, they squirt a horrible-smelling fluid from the base of their tails. The stink lasts for days, and the fluid can cause blindness if it an animal’s eyes.
Octopus injects a liquid that looks like ink. The octopus mixes ink with water, and then squirts it out in a powerful jet. The force of the jet pushes the octopus backwards, and out of the harm’s way. Meanwhile, the predator is engulfed by the inky cloud.
There is nowhere to hide from danger near the surface of sea. For flying fish, this is not a problem. If something chases them, they burst upwards through the surface, and then glide through the air on their outstretched fin. They speed through the air for up to 400 meters, leaving any predator behind.
Camouflage or disguise for defense: Lot of animals have patterns and colors that make them difficult to be seen. Most use their camouflage to hide from predators.
Animal Dropping Camouflage: Its hard to imagine anyone wanting to eat a bird a bird dropping. That’s why some spiders and caterpillars use bird dropping as a disguise. They have grey and white bodies, and sit out on leaves- exactly where bird dropping might land. To make their disguise convincing, they form a shape like a blob. Spiders pull in their legs while caterpillars curl up.