Camouflage | SciShow Tangents Podcast

From SciShow Tangents.

Now you see it, now you don’t – this episode is a true trick for the senses as we uncover the hidden wonders of Camouflage! From human ingenuity (?) to animal creativity, misdirection and subterfuge abound in this episode, so keep your eyes peeled, it’s not one you’ll want to miss!

Check out this image of a trashline orbweaver spider and their stunning decoy! https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/175560721

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[This, That, or the Other: Disappearing Acts]

Stripes painted on ships and planes

Painting planes pink

Yehudi lights on planes

https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol19/tnm_19_171-192.pdf

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1634902/

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/552503/the-secret-lives-of-color-by-kassia-st-clair/

https://books.google.com/books?id=heS0lbYrpAwC&pg=PA56&dq=yehudi+lights&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjHg8TLg6KJAxX5DkQIHUDFHHcQ6AF6BAgJEAI#v=onepage&q=yehudi%20lights&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=DUkl5bH6k6EC&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042698902002675#:~:text=In%20the%20Purkinje%20shift%2C%20the,versus%20red%20into%20apparent%20motion.

[Trivia Question]

Color combinations of Bargibant’s pygmy seahorses

https://www.fishbase.se/summary/Hippocampus-bargibanti

Pygmy Seahorse

https://owlcation.com/stem/Camouflage-in-Animals-Pygmy-Seahorses

[Fact Off]

Trashline orb-weaver spiders that build self-portraits for camouflage https://web.archive.org/web/20160829062900/http://blog.perunature.com:80/2012/12/new-species-of-decoy-spider-likely.html

https://phys.org/news/2012-12-species-spider-fake-decoys.html

https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/trashline-orbweavers

https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article-abstract/10/4/372/2252323

Picture examples of stabilimenta: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stabilimentum

Tricking mice with scent camouflage by adding too much wheat smell

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe4164

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01127-3

Camouflaging wheat with a wheat smell could be a new approach to pest control

[Ask the Science Couch]

Color-changing biology in invertebrates like octopuses vs. vertebrates like chameleons

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5804272/

https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms7368

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1039/c0pp00199f

https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/how-octopuses-and-squids-change-color

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2936158/

Patreon bonus: Non-visual-spectrum camouflage or other senses

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.860137

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2008.0228

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00049-004-0274-4

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2019.0183

[Butt One More Thing]

Caterpillars, spiders, and moths that camouflage themselves as bird poop

https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/citrus/giantswallowtail.htm

https://nhpbs.org/natureworks/viceroy.htm

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28124-zoologger-a-spider-that-looks-and-smells-like-bird-droppings/

https://australian.museum/learn/animals/spiders/bird-dropping-spider/

Macrocilix maia, a moth that evolved to look like flies eating glistening bird shit

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