Hiding In Plain Sight...!

Animals have some very unique ways of hiding in plain sight when they want to. They can, for lack of a better term, become invisible!

Often it may just blending in with their surroundings, hiding in hard to see spots, or even covering themselves with whatever is handy. Here are just a few examples of what I'm talking about!

Spring Attack

Even in our best ghillie suits, to animals, most humans still look like big, bumbling primates pounding through the woods. In other words, they can usually see us coming a mile away. In contrast, many animals are masters of disguise, which they can use to either hide or hunt without detection.

Setting aside the myriad of ocean animals that blend in perfectly with their surroundings, there are plenty of land animals like owls, moths, snakes, lions, insects and more that can make themselves invisible. Perhaps the most impressive display of camouflage is the leaf insect, which looks so astoundingly like a leaf it could easily fool anyone. They even have brown spots and areas that look like bites or wilts to make them appear more authentic, and when it walks, it moves side to side like a leaf rustling in the wind.

But by far, the most repulsive form of camouflage is that of the bird dropping spider, which disguises itself by looking like, yep you guessed it . . . poop. In particular: bird poop. Creatures that like eating feces are few and far between, so this spider stays relatively safe by hanging out in the trees all day waiting for unsuspecting moths to pass by (they release a pheromone that mimics the scent of female moths).

It’s obvious how concealed animals like lions and snakes could pose a threat to humans, but a swarm of otherwise harmless leaf insects could participate in our destruction as well. Could you imagine a tree full of leaves suddenly coming alive? Such an event would startle any human and give other, more dangerous animals time to launch a spring attack.

Yep, I'd say that if animals ever decided to team up and attack us, we would be in some deep sh**, for sure. Hard to defend against something if you can't see it!

Coffee out on the patio this morning where it's hot and muggy!