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Camouflage in predators

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Pembury_Smith_Camouflage_in_predators_BRV_CC.pdf (355.8Kb)
Date
10/2020
Author
Pembury Smith, Matilda
Ruxton, Graeme Douglas
Keywords
Camouflage
Crypsis
Predation
Behaviour
Movement
Mimicry
Evolution
QH301 Biology
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Abstract
Camouflage – adaptations that prevent detection and/or recognition – is a key example of evolution by natural selection, making it a primary focus in evolutionary ecology and animal behaviour. Most work has focused on camouflage as an anti‐predator adaptation. However, predators also display specific colours, patterns and behaviours that reduce visual detection or recognition to facilitate predation. To date, very little attention has been given to predatory camouflage strategies. Although many of the same principles of camouflage studied in prey translate to predators, differences between the two groups (in motility, relative size, and control over the time and place of predation attempts) may alter selection pressures for certain visual and behavioural traits. This makes many predatory camouflage techniques unique and rarely documented. Recently, new technologies have emerged that provide a greater opportunity to carry out research on natural predator–prey interactions. Here we review work on the camouflage strategies used by pursuit and ambush predators to evade detection and recognition by prey, as well as looking at how work on prey camouflage can be applied to predators in order to understand how and why specific predatory camouflage strategies may have evolved. We highlight that a shift is needed in camouflage research focus, as this field has comparatively neglected camouflage in predators, and offer suggestions for future work that would help to improve our understanding of camouflage.
Citation
Pembury Smith , M & Ruxton , G D 2020 , ' Camouflage in predators ' , Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society , vol. 95 , no. 5 , pp. 1325-1340 . https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12612
Publication
Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12612
ISSN
1464-7931
Type
Journal item
Rights
Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Biological Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cambridge Philosophical Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/19948

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