Self-decoration camouflage

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Reduvius personatus, the masked hunter bug nymph, camouflaged with small flakes of wood

Self-decoration camouflage is a method of camouflage in which animals or soldiers select materials, sometimes living, from the environment and attach these to themselves for concealment.

The method was described in 1889 by

Australian aborigines
stalked waterfowl, covering their faces with water lily leaves.

Among animals, self-decoration is found in

masked hunter bug, and occasionally also in octopuses. In military camouflage, it is seen in the use of ghillie suits by snipers
and the helmet nets of soldiers more generally, when these are camouflaged by inserting grass and other local plant materials, and in a more general way by the use of decorated camouflage netting over vehicles, gun emplacements and observation posts.

History

Caddisfly larva creates a portable tube decorated with local materials, here small pebbles, in which it lives.

In 1889, William Bateson observed in detail the way that decorator crabs fix materials on their backs. He noted that "[t]he whole proceeding is most human and purposeful", and that if a Stenorhynchus crab is cleaned, it will "immediately begin to clothe itself again with the same care and precision as before".[1]

In his book The Colours of Animals (1890), Edward Bagnall Poulton[2] classified protective animal coloration into types such as warning colours and protective mimicry. He included self decoration under the heading "Adventitious Protection", quoting Bateson's account of decorator crabs.[3]

In his textbook

waterfowl until they were close enough to catch them by the legs.[4]

In animals

Sponge decorator crabs, Hyastenus elatus

A variety of animals, both

predators and prey, make use of self-decoration to conceal themselves.[5]

Antipredator adaptations

Further information:
Antipredator adaptation

evade predators. They pick up these pieces and stick them to their shells as semi-permanent camouflage, keeping them until they next moult. Their shells are covered with curved hairs to hold the decorations.[1][4][6] The relationship with some of these animals, such as sea anemones is mutualistic; in the case of aposematic animals like stinging sea anemones, the crabs are making use of the warning coloration of these partners to ward off predators.[7]

Self-decoration is seen in some insects such as

masked hunter bug,[8] and occasionally also in octopuses.[5]

Maturin M. Ballou
, 1889

Aggressive mimicry

Further information: Aggressive mimicry

Chrysopidae lacewing larvae decorate themselves with a mixture of materials including moulted cuticle and their own droppings, which appears to serve both to camouflage the larvae and to repel predators. Larvae of species that eat aphids decorate themselves with the waxy material produced by the aphids; larvae decorated like this are ignored by ants which farm the aphids, whereas the ants eject undecorated larvae, making this a wolf in sheep's clothing strategy of aggressive mimicry.[5][9] Some owlfly larvae, which are ambush predators, similarly self-decorate, hiding until prey comes within range.[10]

The strategy has been used by traditional human hunters, such as when

Australian aborigines dressed in emu skins and adopted emu-like postures to hunt these birds.[11]

In military usage

Further information: Ghillie suit

Snipers, working alone, rely heavily on effective camouflage. This is often provided by a ghillie suit, a whole-body covering fitted with many loops into which the wearer can insert grass or other plant materials to match the local environment, or are made with cloth simulating tufts of leaves. Such good camouflage comes at the price of the weight of the ghillie suit and the attached materials; the suit is hot and uncomfortable to wear in hot weather, and it restricts mobility.[12]

The ghillie suit was developed by

gamekeepers for hunting deer, and adapted initially by a Scottish Highland regiment, the Lovat Scouts, for military use.[13] In 1916, the Lovat Scouts became the British Army's first sniper unit. Snipers of many armies have since then adopted the ghillie suit for the effective concealment that it affords.[12]

Cott used the example of the larva of the

[gun] battery positions, observation posts and so forth."[4]

  • British and French snipers in ghillie suits
    British and French snipers in ghillie suits
  • Swedish paratrooper on skis with a winter ghillie suit
    Swedish paratrooper on skis with a winter ghillie suit

References

  1. ^
    S2CID 250948106
    .
  2. ^ Poulton, Edward Bagnall (1890). The Colours of Animals, their meaning and use, especially considered in the case of insects. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner. pp. 76–79.
  3. ISBN 9780300178968
    .
  4. ^
    Cott, Hugh Bamford (1940). Adaptive Coloration in Animals. London: Methuen. pp. 358–360
    .
  5. ^ a b c d Bates, Mary. "Natural Bling: 6 Amazing Animals That Decorate Themselves". National Geographic. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  6. ISBN 978-0-521-19911-7
    .
  7. hdl:2246/5820
    .
  8. S2CID 7894145
    .
  9. S2CID 11558335
    .
  10. doi:10.1093/aesa/70.2.179
    .
  11. ^ Ballou, Maturin M. (1889). Foot-Prints of Travel. Boston: Ginn & Company. p. 64.
  12. ^
    ISBN 0-87364-704-1
    .
  13. ISBN 0-87364-704-1
    .
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