School › Camouflage
Camouflage and adaptation
A stick insect looks like a twig, a snowshoe hare turns white for the snowy winter and an octopus can change colour in the blink of an eye. Find out how animals hide from predators (and sometimes from their prey), why other animals do the opposite and show off bright warning colours, and how scientists test camouflage with paper caterpillars and artificial moths. Three ages, each with a text, an experiment, a game, a quiz, a printable worksheet and a teacher sheet.
Ages 6–7Now you see me!Some animals are brilliant at hide and seek. Find out how stick insects, hares and octopuses hide, and play hide and seek with paper caterpillars.Ages 10–11Hide, disguise or warnBackground matching, disruptive patterns, countershading, colour change and warning colours: discover the tricks animals use, then run a fair test to find the hardest colour to spot.Ages 15–16Camouflage and natural selectionFrom the peppered moth to snowshoe hares in a warming climate: how camouflage evolves, how cephalopods change colour, and how to analyse a predation experiment with proportions and uncertainty.