--- title: "Animal Camouflage" description: "Know that camouflage uses colours, patterns or shapes to help animals blend into their surroundings. It can help them avoid predators or approach prey. Examples include leaf insects, striped tigers an" canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/animal-camouflage-mt_pwo81ls_J- source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/animal-camouflage-mt_pwo81ls_J-.md retrieved: 2026-10-19 --- > **Agent view.** This is the Markdown twin of the page, for tools and assistants. > When to use this site, and the call that answers each job: https://lightmysky.com/agent-instructions.md > API description (OpenAPI 3.1): https://lightmysky.com/openapi.json · Authentication: https://lightmysky.com/auth.md > Pricing: https://lightmysky.com/pricing.md · Catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms.txt · Full catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms-full.txt > Every machine-readable file on this domain: https://lightmysky.com/.well-known/ai-catalog.json > Ask for Markdown with `Accept: text/markdown`, a `.md` address, or `?mode=agent`. # Animal Camouflage Know that camouflage uses colours, patterns or shapes to help animals blend into their surroundings. It can help them avoid predators or approach prey. Examples include leaf insects, striped tigers and Arctic hares with white fur in snow. Subject: Science · Area: Animals of the World · Ages 5 to 7 Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/animal-camouflage-mt_pwo81ls_J- ## Ready when they can - Explains that camouflage means blending in with surroundings - Gives at least 3 examples of camouflaged animals - Explains that camouflage helps animals hide from predators or sneak up on food ## Lesson: Hiding in plain sight Animals live in different homes. Camouflage uses colour, pattern or shape to help an animal blend into its surroundings. It makes spotting harder, not impossible. Spots and stripes are patterns. Shape is the outline of the body. **Example.** A predator hunts other animals for food. Its prey is the animal it hunts. A bird hunting a leaf insect is a predator. The insect is its prey. A green leaf insect's leaf-shaped body can help it hide among green leaves. *(drawing: The hunter is the predator. The animal it hunts is its prey.)* **Example.** Arctic hares have white winter fur. Some have brownish-grey fur in summer, while others stay white all year. White fur can help a hare blend into snow. **Example.** A tiger's stripes help break up its outline among plants. This can make the tiger harder to spot as it approaches prey. A pattern can help without matching every colour around it. Camouflage helps animals blend in. A leaf insect among leaves can hide from birds. A white Arctic hare blends in with snow. A tiger's stripes help hide its outline among plants as it approaches prey. Camouflage can help prey avoid predators. It can also help predators approach prey. Compare an animal with its surroundings. White fur matches snow better than brown ground. Shape, pattern, movement and hiding places matter too. Movement can reveal a colour-matched animal. When these clues differ, colour alone cannot tell which animal is harder to spot. Matching does not guarantee safety. A display meant to attract attention has a different job from hiding. To test a background's effect, keep the animal picture unchanged. Change only the background. If both change, you cannot tell which change affected spotting. **Recap.** Camouflage can use colour, pattern or shape. It can help prey hide and predators approach prey. It does not make animals invisible. ## Practice 24 questions on this page, each with its working shown. ## Needs first - [Nocturnal Animals](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/nocturnal-animals-mt_V_wIdRZLsG) - [Animals Everywhere](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/animals-everywhere-mt_v3Vz_Pgjjv) ## Opens up - [Predator Hunting and Prey Defence Strategies](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/predator-hunting-and-prey-defence-strategies-mt_Bztatrv-_v) - [Polar Animals](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/polar-animals-mt_D4lyx0iYyB) - [Three Kinds of Adaptations](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/three-kinds-of-adaptations-mt_EaWjCyn8W2)