160-406: Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard 's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier , and the leaf-mimic katydid 's wings. A third approach, motion dazzle, confuses the observer with a conspicuous pattern, making
320-474: A compound of λέων ( leōn ), meaning ' lion ' , and πάρδος ( pardos ), meaning ' spotted ' . The word λέοπάρδος originally referred to a cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ). "Panther" is another common name, derived from Latin panther and ancient Greek πάνθηρ ( pánthēr ); The generic name Panthera originates in Latin panthera , a hunting net for catching wild beasts to be used by
480-658: A lammergeier might have killed Aeschylus by accident. Many stories of Brazilian indigenous peoples speak about children mauled by Uiruuetê, the Harpy Eagle in Tupi language . Various large raptors like golden eagles are reported attacking human beings, but its unclear if they intend to eat them or if they have ever been successful in killing one. Some fossil evidence indicates large birds of prey occasionally preyed on prehistoric hominids. The Taung Child , an early human found in Africa,
640-415: A leopon was born in 1959 and 1961, all cubs were spotted and bigger than a juvenile leopard. Attempts to mate a leopon with a tigress proved unsuccessful. The leopard's fur is generally soft and thick, notably softer on the belly than on the back. Its skin colour varies between individuals from pale yellowish to dark golden with dark spots grouped in rosettes . Its underbelly is white and its ringed tail
800-1289: A 'follow-me' signal in intraspecific communication. However, no significant association were found between a conspicuous colour of tail patches and behavioural variables in carnivores. Leopards are mainly active from dusk till dawn and will rest for most of the day and some hours at night in thickets, among rocks or over tree branches. Leopards have been observed walking 1–25 km (0.62–15.53 mi) across their range at night; wandering up to 75 km (47 mi) if disturbed. In some regions, they are nocturnal . In western African forests, they have been observed to be largely diurnal and hunting during twilight, when their prey animals are active; activity patterns vary between seasons. Leopards can climb trees quite skillfully, often resting on tree branches and descending headfirst. They can run at over 58 km/h (36 mph; 16 m/s), leap over 6 m (20 ft) horizontally, and jump up to 3 m (9.8 ft) vertically. In Kruger National Park , most leopards tend to keep 1 km (0.62 mi) apart. Males occasionally interact with their partners and cubs, and exceptionally this can extend beyond to two generations. Aggressive encounters are rare, typically limited to defending territories from intruders. In
960-430: A 2016 study revealed that the mitochondrial genomes of the leopard, lion and snow leopard are more similar to each other than their nuclear genomes , indicating that their ancestors hybridized with the snow leopard at some point in their evolution . The oldest unambiguous fossils of the leopard are from Eastern Africa, dating to around 2 million years ago. Leopard-like fossil bones and teeth possibly dating to
1120-464: A South African reserve, a male was wounded in a male–male territorial battle over a carcass. Males occupy home ranges that often overlap with a few smaller female home ranges, probably as a strategy to enhance access to females. In the Ivory Coast , the home range of a female was completely enclosed within a male's. Females live with their cubs in home ranges that overlap extensively, probably due to
1280-435: A background that is brighter than an animal's body or military vehicle; it is a form of active camouflage. It is notably used by some species of squid , such as the firefly squid and the midwater squid . The latter has light-producing organs ( photophores ) scattered all over its underside; these create a sparkling glow that prevents the animal from appearing as a dark shape when seen from below. Counterillumination camouflage
1440-426: A clear evolutionary advantage in plants: they would tend to escape from being eaten by herbivores . Another possibility is that some plants have leaves differently coloured on upper and lower surfaces or on parts such as veins and stalks to make green-camouflaged insects conspicuous, and thus benefit the plants by favouring the removal of herbivores by carnivores. These hypotheses are testable. Some animals, such as
1600-437: A combination of the two. Most forms of camouflage are ineffective when the camouflaged animal or object moves, because the motion is easily seen by the observing predator, prey or enemy. However, insects such as hoverflies and dragonflies use motion camouflage : the hoverflies to approach possible mates, and the dragonflies to approach rivals when defending territories. Motion camouflage is achieved by moving so as to stay on
1760-454: A distance or during flight, strong feet with sharp talons for grasping or killing prey, and powerful, curved beaks for tearing off flesh. Although predatory birds primarily hunt live prey, many species (such as fish eagles , vultures and condors ) also scavenge and eat carrion . Although the term "bird of prey" could theoretically be taken to include all birds that actively hunt and eat other animals, ornithologists typically use
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#17328700053011920-441: A fish can be seen by a factor of 6 compared to a fish with a nominal 2% reflectance. Species with this adaptation are widely dispersed in various orders of the phylogenetic tree of bony fishes ( Actinopterygii ), implying that natural selection has driven the convergent evolution of ultra-blackness camouflage independently many times. In mimesis (also called masquerade ), the camouflaged object looks like something else which
2080-467: A great deal of data is required. Dimorphisms can also be the product of intrasexual selection between males and females. It appears that both sexes of the species play a role in the sexual dimorphism within raptors; females tend to compete with other females to find good places to nest and attract males, and males competing with other males for adequate hunting ground so they appear as the most healthy mate. It has also been proposed that sexual dimorphism
2240-473: A high contrast pattern that could be disruptive coloration, the adults are very conspicuous when in the open. Some authors have argued that adult giraffes are cryptic, since when standing among trees and bushes they are hard to see at even a few metres' distance. However, adult giraffes move about to gain the best view of an approaching predator, relying on their size and ability to defend themselves, even from lions, rather than on camouflage. A different explanation
2400-465: A larger image to be projected onto the retina. The visual acuity of some large raptors such as eagles and Old World vultures are the highest known among vertebrates; the wedge-tailed eagle has twice the visual acuity of a typical human and six times that of the common ostrich , the vertebrate with the largest eyes. There are two regions in the retina, called the deep and shallow fovea, that are specialized for acute vision. These regions contain
2560-707: A leopard was reportedly a male eland weighing 900 kg (2,000 lb). A study in Wolong National Nature Reserve in southern China demonstrated variation in the leopard's diet over time; over the course of seven years, the vegetative cover receded, and leopards opportunistically shifted from primarily consuming tufted deer to pursuing bamboo rats and other smaller prey. The leopard depends mainly on its acute senses of hearing and vision for hunting. It primarily hunts at night in most areas. In western African forests and Tsavo National Park, they have also been observed hunting by day. They usually hunt on
2720-471: A low of −25 °C (−13 °F). The leopard is a solitary and territorial animal. It is typically shy and alert when crossing roadways and encountering oncoming vehicles, but may be emboldened to attack people or other animals when threatened. Adults associate only in the mating season. Females continue to interact with their offspring even after weaning and have been observed sharing kills with their offspring when they can not obtain any prey. They produce
2880-518: A mirror oriented vertically makes animals such as fish invisible from the side. Most fish in the upper ocean such as sardine and herring are camouflaged by silvering. The marine hatchetfish is extremely flattened laterally, leaving the body just millimetres thick, and the body is so silvery as to resemble aluminium foil . The mirrors consist of microscopic structures similar to those used to provide structural coloration : stacks of between 5 and 10 crystals of guanine spaced about 1 ⁄ 4 of
3040-413: A number of vocalizations, including growls, snarls, meows, and purrs. The roaring sequence in leopards consists mainly of grunts, also called "sawing", as it resembles the sound of sawing wood. Cubs call their mother with an urr-urr sound. The whitish spots on the back of its ears are thought to play a role in communication. It has been hypothesized that the white tips of their tails may function as
3200-404: A particularly black skin which reflected only 0.044% of 480 nm wavelength light. The ultra-blackness is achieved with a thin but continuous layer of particles in the dermis , melanosomes . These particles both absorb most of the light, and are sized and shaped so as to scatter rather than reflect most of the rest. Modelling suggests that this camouflage should reduce the distance at which such
3360-410: A period of about 8000 years the single agouti gene developed 9 mutations that each made expression of yellow fur stronger under natural selection, and largely eliminated melanin-coding black fur coloration. On the other hand, all black domesticated cats have deletions of the agouti gene that prevent its expression, meaning no yellow or red color is produced. The evolution, history and widespread scope of
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#17328700053013520-499: A predator blends in with the background, enabling it to approach prey). His experiments showed that swallow-tailed moth pupae were camouflaged to match the backgrounds on which they were reared as larvae . Poulton's "general protective resemblance" was at that time considered to be the main method of camouflage, as when Frank Evers Beddard wrote in 1892 that "tree-frequenting animals are often green in colour. Among vertebrates numerous species of parrots , iguanas , tree-frogs , and
3680-408: A reason, such as to lure prey. For example, the nematocysts (stinging cells) of the transparent siphonophore Agalma okenii resemble small copepods . Examples of transparent marine animals include a wide variety of larvae , including radiata (coelenterates), siphonophores, salps (floating tunicates ), gastropod molluscs , polychaete worms, many shrimplike crustaceans , and fish; whereas
3840-692: A reproductive advantage, enabling them to leave more offspring, on average, than other members of the same species . In his Origin of Species , Darwin wrote: When we see leaf-eating insects green, and bark-feeders mottled-grey; the alpine ptarmigan white in winter, the red-grouse the colour of heather , and the black-grouse that of peaty earth, we must believe that these tints are of service to these birds and insects in preserving them from danger. Grouse, if not destroyed at some period of their lives, would increase in countless numbers; they are known to suffer largely from birds of prey ; and hawks are guided by eyesight to their prey, so much so, that on parts of
4000-499: A small elastic sac, which can be stretched or allowed to relax under the control of the brain to vary its opacity. By controlling chromatophores of different colours, cephalopods can rapidly change their skin patterns and colours. On a longer timescale, animals like the Arctic hare , Arctic fox , stoat , and rock ptarmigan have snow camouflage , changing their coat colour (by moulting and growing new fur or feathers) from brown or grey in
4160-416: A species of nudibranch that feeds on stony coral , utilizes specific cryptic patterning in reef ecosystems. The nudibranch syphons pigments from the consumed coral into the epidermis, adopting the same shade as the consumed coral. This allows the nudibranch to change colour (mostly between black and orange) depending on the coral system that it inhabits. However, P. melanocrachia can only feed and lay eggs on
4320-434: A straight line between the target and a fixed point in the landscape; the pursuer thus appears not to move, but only to loom larger in the target's field of vision. Some insects sway while moving to appear to be blown back and forth by the breeze. The same method can be used for military purposes, for example by missiles to minimise their risk of detection by an enemy. However, missile engineers, and animals such as bats, use
4480-408: A wavelength apart to interfere constructively and achieve nearly 100 per cent reflection. In the deep waters that the hatchetfish lives in, only blue light with a wavelength of 500 nanometres percolates down and needs to be reflected, so mirrors 125 nanometres apart provide good camouflage. In fish such as the herring which live in shallower water, the mirrors must reflect a mixture of wavelengths, and
4640-742: Is a carnivore that prefers medium-sized prey with a body mass ranging from 10–40 kg (22–88 lb). Prey species in this weight range tend to occur in dense habitat and to form small herds. Species that prefer open areas and have well-developed anti-predator strategies are less preferred. More than 100 prey species have been recorded. The most preferred species are ungulates , such as impala , bushbuck , common duiker and chital . Primates preyed upon include white-eyelid mangabeys , guenons and gray langurs . Leopards also kill smaller carnivores like black-backed jackal , bat-eared fox , genet and cheetah. In urban environments, domestic dogs provide an important food source. The largest prey killed by
4800-594: Is a sister taxon to a clade within Panthera , consisting of the lion and the jaguar. Results of a phylogenetic analysis of chemical secretions amongst cats indicated that the leopard is closely related to the lion. The geographic origin of the Panthera is most likely northern Central Asia. The leopard-lion clade was distributed in the Asian and African Palearctic since at least the early Pliocene . The leopard-lion clade diverged 3.1–1.95 million years ago. Additionally,
4960-582: Is a deprecated superorder within Raptores, formerly composed of the orders Falconiformes and Strigiformes. The clade was invalidated after 2012. Falconiformes is now placed in Eufalconimorphae , while Strigiformes is placed in Afroaves . The order Accipitriformes is believed to have originated 44 million years ago when it split from the common ancestor of the secretarybird ( Sagittarius serpentarius ) and
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5120-729: Is a simplified phylogeny of Telluraves which is the clade where the birds of prey belong to along with passerines and several near-passerine lineages. The orders in bold text are birds of prey orders; this is to show the paraphyly of the group as well as their relationships to other birds. Accipitriformes (hawks, vultures, and relatives) [REDACTED] Strigiformes (owls) [REDACTED] Coraciimorphae (woodpeckers, rollers, hornbills, etc.) [REDACTED] Cariamiformes (seriemas) [REDACTED] Falconiformes (falcons) [REDACTED] Psittacopasserae (parrots and songbirds) [REDACTED] A recent phylogenomic study from Wu et al. (2024) has found an alternative phylogeny for
5280-605: Is a slender and muscular cat, with relatively short limbs and a broad head. It is sexually dimorphic with males larger and heavier than females. Males stand 60–70 cm (24–28 in) at the shoulder, while females are 57–64 cm (22–25 in) tall. The head-and-body length ranges between 92 and 183 cm (36 and 72 in) with a 66 to 102 cm (26 to 40 in) long tail. Sizes vary geographically. Males typically weigh 30.9–72 kg (68–159 lb), and females 20.5–43 kg (45–95 lb). Occasionally, large males can grow up to 91 kg (201 lb). Leopards from
5440-445: Is able to take large prey due to its powerful jaw muscles, and is therefore strong enough to drag carcasses heavier than itself up into trees; an individual was seen to haul a young giraffe weighing nearly 125 kg (276 lb) up 5.7 m (18 ft 8 in) into a tree. It eats small prey immediately, but drags larger carcasses over several hundred metres and caches it safely in trees, bushes or even caves; this behaviour allows
5600-462: Is abundant food and vegetation cover. Otherwise, they appear to be less common where tigers are numerous. The recovery of the tiger population in Rajaji National Park during the 2000s led to a reduction in leopard population densities. In some areas, leopards mate all year round. In Manchuria and Siberia , they mate during January and February. On average, females begin to breed between
5760-451: Is acellular and highly transparent. This conveniently makes them buoyant , but it also makes them large for their muscle mass, so they cannot swim fast, making this form of camouflage a costly trade-off with mobility. Gelatinous planktonic animals are between 50 and 90 percent transparent. A transparency of 50 percent is enough to make an animal invisible to a predator such as cod at a depth of 650 metres (2,130 ft); better transparency
5920-472: Is also more gray in colour with less defined spots. They begin to eat meat at around nine weeks. Around three months of age, the young begin to follow the mother on hunts. At one year of age, cubs can probably fend for themselves, but will remain with the mother for 18–24 months. After separating from their mother, sibling cubs may travel together for months. Both male and female leopards typically reach sexual maturity at 2–2⅓ years. The generation length of
6080-438: Is among other things used for counter-illumination on the undersides of cephalopods such as squid . Some animals, such as chameleons and octopuses , are capable of actively changing their skin pattern and colors , whether for camouflage or for signalling. It is possible that some plants use camouflage to evade being eaten by herbivores . Military camouflage was spurred by the increasing range and accuracy of firearms in
6240-431: Is an important component of camouflage in all environments. For instance, tree-dwelling parakeets are mainly green; woodcocks of the forest floor are brown and speckled; reedbed bitterns are streaked brown and buff; in each case the animal's coloration matches the hues of its habitat. Similarly, desert animals are almost all desert coloured in tones of sand, buff, ochre, and brownish grey, whether they are mammals like
6400-492: Is an order of telluravian birds consisting of the living seriemas and extinct terror birds . Jarvis et al. 2014 suggested including them in the category of birds of prey, and McClure et al. 2019 considered seriemas to be birds of prey. The Peregrine Fund also considers seriemas to be birds of prey. Like most birds of prey, seriemas and terror birds prey on vertebrates . However, seriemas were not traditionally considered birds of prey. There were traditionally classified in
6560-435: Is argued that these juvenile giraffes must be very well camouflaged; this is supported by coat markings being strongly inherited . The possibility of camouflage in plants was little studied until the late 20th century. Leaf variegation with white spots may serve as camouflage in forest understory plants, where there is a dappled background; leaf mottling is correlated with closed habitats. Disruptive camouflage would have
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6720-538: Is believed to have been killed by an eagle-like bird similar to the crowned eagle . The Haast's eagle may have preyed on early humans in New Zealand , and this conclusion would be consistent with Maori folklore . Leptoptilos robustus might have preyed on both Homo floresiensis and anatomically modern humans, and the Malagasy crowned eagle , teratorns , Woodward's eagle and Caracara major are similar in size to
6880-507: Is caused by a recessive allele and is inherited as a recessive trait . In India, nine pale and white leopards were reported between 1905 and 1967. Leopards exhibiting erythrism were recorded between 1990 and 2015 in South Africa's Madikwe Game Reserve and in Mpumalanga . The cause of this morph known as a "strawberry leopard" or "pink panther" is not well understood. The leopard
7040-414: Is common in military usage, both for uniforms and for military vehicles. Disruptive patterning, however, does not always achieve crypsis on its own, as an animal or a military target may be given away by factors like shape, shine, and shadow. The presence of bold skin markings does not in itself prove that an animal relies on camouflage, as that depends on its behaviour. For example, although giraffes have
7200-445: Is commonly believed that the dimorphisms found in raptors occur due to sexual selection or environmental factors. In general, hypotheses in favor of ecological factors being the cause for sexual dimorphism in raptors are rejected. This is because the ecological model is less parsimonious , meaning that its explanation is more complex than that of the sexual selection model. Additionally, ecological models are much harder to test because
7360-459: Is derived from the Latin word rapio , meaning "to seize or take by force". The common names for various birds of prey are based on structure, but many of the traditional names do not reflect the evolutionary relationships between the groups. Many of these English language group names originally referred to particular species encountered in Britain . As English-speaking people travelled further,
7520-473: Is dominant only over the cheetah while the others have the advantage of size, pack numbers or both. Lions pose a great mortal threat and can be responsible for 22% of leopard deaths in Sabi Sand Game Reserve . Spotted hyenas are less threatening but are more likely to steal kills , being the culprits of up to 50% of stolen leopard kills in the same area. To counter this, leopards store their kills in
7680-433: Is fossil evidence of camouflaged insects going back over 100 million years, for example lacewings larvae that stick debris all over their bodies much as their modern descendants do, hiding them from their prey. Dinosaurs appear to have been camouflaged, as a 120 million year old fossil of a Psittacosaurus has been preserved with countershading . Camouflage does not have a single genetic origin. However, studying
7840-402: Is implied by young giraffes being far more vulnerable to predation than adults. More than half of all giraffe calves die within a year, and giraffe mothers hide their newly born calves, which spend much of the time lying down in cover while their mothers are away feeding. The mothers return once a day to feed their calves with milk. Since the presence of a mother nearby does not affect survival, it
8000-517: Is less often used for military camouflage, despite Second World War experiments that showed its effectiveness. English zoologist Hugh Cott encouraged the use of methods including countershading, but despite his authority on the subject, failed to persuade the British authorities. Soldiers often wrongly viewed camouflage netting as a kind of invisibility cloak, and they had to be taught to look at camouflage practically, from an enemy observer's viewpoint. At
8160-434: Is mediated by a type of chromatophore known as melanophores that contain dark pigment. A melanophore is star-shaped; it contains many small pigmented organelles which can be dispersed throughout the cell, or aggregated near its centre. When the pigmented organelles are dispersed, the cell makes a patch of the animal's skin appear dark; when they are aggregated, most of the cell, and the animal's skin, appears light. In frogs,
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#17328700053018320-411: Is merely the product of disruptive selection , and is merely a stepping stone in the process of speciation, especially if the traits that define gender are independent across a species. Sexual dimorphism can be viewed as something that can accelerate the rate of speciation. In non-predatory birds, males are typically larger than females. However, in birds of prey, the opposite is the case. For instance,
8480-527: Is not every reason to believe it the very best conceivable device for the concealment of its wearer", and using paintings such as Peacock in the Woods (1907) to reinforce his argument. Thayer was roundly mocked for these views by critics including Teddy Roosevelt . The English zoologist Hugh Cott 's 1940 book Adaptive Coloration in Animals corrected Thayer's errors, sometimes sharply: "Thus we find Thayer straining
8640-417: Is of no special interest to the observer. Mimesis is common in prey animals, for example when a peppered moth caterpillar mimics a twig, or a grasshopper mimics a dry leaf. It is also found in nest structures; some eusocial wasps, such as Leipomeles dorsata , build a nest envelope in patterns that mimic the leaves surrounding the nest. Leopard See text The leopard ( Panthera pardus )
8800-454: Is one of the five extant cat species in the genus Panthera . It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes . Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of 92–183 cm (36–72 in) with a 66–102 cm (26–40 in) long tail and a shoulder height of 60–70 cm (24–28 in). Males typically weigh 30.9–72 kg (68–159 lb), and females 20.5–43 kg (45–95 lb). The leopard
8960-462: Is required for invisibility in shallower water, where the light is brighter and predators can see better. For example, a cod can see prey that are 98 percent transparent in optimal lighting in shallow water. Therefore, sufficient transparency for camouflage is more easily achieved in deeper waters. Some tissues such as muscles can be made transparent, provided either they are very thin or organised as regular layers or fibrils that are small compared to
9120-714: Is shorter than its body. Its pupils are round. Leopards living in arid regions are pale cream, yellowish to ochraceous and rufous in colour; those living in forests and mountains are much darker and deep golden. Spots fade toward the white underbelly and the insides and lower parts of the legs. Rosettes are circular in East African leopard populations, and tend to be squarish in Southern African and larger in Asian leopard populations. The fur tends to be grayish in colder climates, and dark golden in rainforest habitats. Rosette patterns are unique in each individual. This pattern
9280-473: Is the likely function of the bioluminescence of many marine organisms, though light is also produced to attract or to detect prey and for signalling. Counterillumination has rarely been used for military purposes. " Diffused lighting camouflage " was trialled by Canada's National Research Council during the Second World War. It involved projecting light on to the sides of ships to match the faint glow of
9440-424: Is their mutual resemblance." He also explained the coloration of sea fish such as the mackerel : "Among pelagic fish it is common to find the upper surface dark-coloured and the lower surface white, so that the animal is inconspicuous when seen either from above or below." The artist Abbott Handerson Thayer formulated what is sometimes called Thayer's Law, the principle of countershading . However, he overstated
9600-399: Is thought to be an adaptation to dense vegetation with patchy shadows, where it serves as camouflage . Its white-tipped tail is about 60–100 cm (23.6–39.4 in) long, white underneath and with spots that form incomplete bands toward the end of the tail. The guard hairs protecting the basal hairs are short, 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) in face and head, and increase in length toward
9760-472: Is thought to have originated through transposition from symbiotic Aliivibrio fischeri bacteria, which provide bioluminescence to its hosts. While not all cephalopods use active camouflage , ancient cephalopods may have inherited the gene horizontally from symbiotic A. fischeri , with divergence occurred through subsequent gene duplication (such as in the case of Sepia officinalis ) or gene loss (as with cephalopods with no active camouflage capabilities). This
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#17328700053019920-637: Is unique as an instance of camouflage arising as an instance of horizontal gene transfer from an endosymbiont . However, other methods of horizontal gene transfer are common in the evolution of camouflage strategies in other lineages. Peppered moths and walking stick insects both have camouflage-related genes that stem from transposition events. The Agouti genes are orthologous genes involved in camouflage across many lineages. They produce yellow and red coloration ( phaeomelanin ), and work in competition with other genes that produce black (melanin) and brown (eumelanin) colours. In eastern deer mice , over
10080-666: The Brahmaputra River basin and hills in Northeast India . In Nepal's Kanchenjunga Conservation Area , a melanistic leopard was photographed at an elevation of 4,300 m (14,100 ft) by a camera trap in May 2012. In Sri Lanka, leopards were recorded in Yala National Park and in unprotected forest patches, tea estates , grasslands, home gardens, pine and eucalyptus plantations. In Myanmar, leopards were recorded for
10240-578: The Cape Province in South Africa are generally smaller, reaching only 20–45 kg (44–99 lb) in males. The heaviest wild leopard in Southern Africa weighed around 96 kg (212 lb), and it measured 262 cm (103 in). In 2016, an Indian leopard killed in Himachal Pradesh measured 261 cm (103 in) with an estimated weight of 78.5 kg (173 lb); it was perhaps
10400-780: The Pliocene were excavated in Perrier in France , northeast of London , and in Valdarno , Italy . Until 1940, similar fossils dating back to the Pleistocene were excavated mostly in loess and caves at 40 sites in Europe, including Furninha Cave near Lisbon , Genista Caves in Gibraltar , and Santander Province in northern Spain to several sites across France, Switzerland , Italy, Austria , Germany , in
10560-596: The Qinling Mountains during surveys in 11 nature reserves between 2002 and 2009. In Java, leopards inhabit dense tropical rainforests and dry deciduous forests at elevations from sea level to 2,540 m (8,330 ft). Outside protected areas, leopards were recorded in mixed agricultural land, secondary forest and production forest between 2008 and 2014. In the Russian Far East, it inhabits temperate coniferous forests where winter temperatures reach
10720-484: The Romans in combats. Pardus is the masculine singular form. Felis pardus was the scientific name proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The generic name Panthera was first used by Lorenz Oken in 1816, who included all the known spotted cats into this group. Oken's classification was not widely accepted, and Felis or Leopardus was used as the generic name until the early 20th century. The leopard
10880-538: The gerbil or fennec fox , birds such as the desert lark or sandgrouse , or reptiles like the skink or horned viper . Military uniforms, too, generally resemble their backgrounds; for example khaki uniforms are a muddy or dusty colour, originally chosen for service in South Asia. Many moths show industrial melanism , including the peppered moth which has coloration that blends in with tree bark. The coloration of these insects evolved between 1860 and 1940 to match
11040-408: The green tree-snake are examples". Beddard did however briefly mention other methods, including the "alluring coloration" of the flower mantis and the possibility of a different mechanism in the orange tip butterfly . He wrote that "the scattered green spots upon the under surface of the wings might have been intended for a rough sketch of the small flowerets of the plant [an umbellifer ], so close
11200-400: The horned lizards of North America, have evolved elaborate measures to eliminate shadow . Their bodies are flattened, with the sides thinning to an edge; the animals habitually press their bodies to the ground; and their sides are fringed with white scales which effectively hide and disrupt any remaining areas of shadow there may be under the edge of the body. The theory that the body shape of
11360-497: The kestrel is a type of falcon in which males are the primary providers, and the females are responsible for nurturing the young. In this species, the smaller the kestrels are, the less food is needed and thus, they can survive in environments that are harsher. This is particularly true in the male kestrels. It has become more energetically favorable for male kestrels to remain smaller than their female counterparts because smaller males have an agility advantage when it comes to defending
11520-641: The merlin ( Falco columbarius ). The taxonomy of Carl Linnaeus grouped birds (class Aves) into orders, genera, and species, with no formal ranks between genus and order. He placed all birds of prey into a single order, Accipitres , subdividing this into four genera: Vultur (vultures), Falco (eagles, hawks, falcons, etc.), Strix (owls), and Lanius (shrikes). This approach was followed by subsequent authors such as Gmelin , Latham and Turton . Louis Pierre Vieillot used additional ranks: order, tribe, family, genus, species. Birds of prey (order Accipitres) were divided into diurnal and nocturnal tribes;
11680-562: The 19th century. In particular the replacement of the inaccurate musket with the rifle made personal concealment in battle a survival skill. In the 20th century, military camouflage developed rapidly, especially during the First World War . On land, artists such as André Mare designed camouflage schemes and observation posts disguised as trees. At sea , merchant ships and troop carriers were painted in dazzle patterns that were highly visible, but designed to confuse enemy submarines as to
11840-592: The British army having adopted "coats of motley hue and stripes of paint" for snipers. Cott takes the example of the larva of the blotched emerald moth, which fixes a screen of fragments of leaves to its specially hooked bristles, to argue that military camouflage uses the same method, pointing out that the "device is ... essentially the same as one widely practised during the Great War for the concealment, not of caterpillars, but of caterpillar-tractors, [gun] battery positions, observation posts and so forth." Movement catches
12000-657: The Continent persons are warned not to keep white pigeons, as being the most liable to destruction. Hence I can see no reason to doubt that natural selection might be most effective in giving the proper colour to each kind of grouse, and in keeping that colour, when once acquired, true and constant. The English zoologist Edward Bagnall Poulton studied animal coloration , especially camouflage. In his 1890 book The Colours of Animals , he classified different types such as "special protective resemblance" (where an animal looks like another object), or "general aggressive resemblance" (where
12160-471: The Haast's eagle, implying that they similarly could pose a threat to a human being. Birds of prey have incredible vision and rely heavily on it for a number of tasks. They utilize their high visual acuity to obtain food, navigate their surroundings, distinguish and flee from predators, mating, nest construction, and much more. They accomplish these tasks with a large eye in relation to their skull, which allows for
12320-917: The Late Pleistocene were found in Biśnik Cave in south-central Poland . Fossil remains were also excavated in the Iberian and Italian Peninsula , and in the Balkans . Leopard fossils dating to the Pleistocene were also excavated in the Japanese archipelago . Leopard fossils were also found in Taiwan . In 1953, a male leopard and a female lion were crossbred in Hanshin Park in Nishinomiya, Japan . Their offspring known as
12480-489: The accipitrid species. The phylogeny of Accipitriformes is complex and difficult to unravel. Widespread paraphylies were observed in many phylogenetic studies. More recent and detailed studies show similar results. However, according to the findings of a 2014 study, the sister relationship between larger clades of Accipitriformes was well supported (e.g. relationship of Harpagus kites to buzzards and sea eagles and these latter two with Accipiter hawks are sister taxa of
12640-406: The adults of most of these are opaque and pigmented, resembling the seabed or shores where they live. Adult comb jellies and jellyfish obey the rule, often being mainly transparent. Cott suggests this follows the more general rule that animals resemble their background: in a transparent medium like seawater, that means being transparent. The small Amazon River fish Microphilypnus amazonicus and
12800-475: The ages of 2½ and three, and males between the ages of two and three. The female's estrous cycle lasts about 46 days, and she is usually in heat for 6–7 days. Gestation lasts for 90 to 105 days. Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2–4 cubs. The mortality rate of cubs is estimated at 41–50% during the first year. Predators are the biggest cause for leopard cub mortality during their first year. Male leopards are known to cause infanticide , in order to bring
12960-482: The agouti gene shows that different organisms often rely on orthologous or even identical genes to develop a variety of camouflage strategies. While camouflage can increase an organism's fitness, it has genetic and energetic costs. There is a trade-off between detectability and mobility. Species camouflaged to fit a specific microhabitat are less likely to be detected when in that microhabitat, but must spend energy to reach, and sometimes to remain in, such areas. Outside
13120-471: The association between mothers and their offspring. There may be a few other fluctuating home ranges belonging to young individuals. It is not clear if male home ranges overlap as much as those of females do. Individuals try to drive away intruders of the same sex. A study of leopards in the Namibian farmlands showed that the size of home ranges was not significantly affected by sex, rainfall patterns or season;
13280-403: The average size for a leopard kill was 37.6 kg (83 lb) compared to 91.5 kg (202 lb) for tigers and 43.4 kg (96 lb) for dholes. At Kui Buri National Park , following a reduction in prey numbers, tigers continued to feed on favoured prey while leopards and dholes had to increase their consumption of small prey. Leopards can live successfully in tiger habitat when there
13440-984: The basis of mitochondrial analysis. Later analysis revealed a ninth valid subspecies, the Arabian leopard . In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group recognized the following eight subspecies as valid taxa: The Balochistan leopard population in the south of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan is separated from the northern population by the Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut deserts. Results of an analysis of molecular variance and pairwise fixation index of 182 African leopard museum specimens showed that some African leopards exhibit higher genetic differences than Asian leopard subspecies. Results of phylogenetic studies based on nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that
13600-691: The bills of birds of prey shown by hunters. In Britain, kites and buzzards were seen as destroyers of game and killed, for instance in 1684–5 alone as many as 100 kites were killed. Rewards for their killing were also in force in the Netherlands from 1756. From 1705 to 1800, it has been estimated that 624087 birds of prey were killed in a part of Germany that included Hannover, Luneburg, Lauenburg and Bremen with 14125 claws deposited just in 1796–97. Many species also develop lead poisoning after accidental consumption of lead shot when feeding on animals that had been shot by hunters. Lead pellets from direct shooting that
13760-522: The biogeographic realms of the Southern Hemisphere. The appearance of migratory behaviour occurred in the tropics parallel with the range expansion of migratory species to temperate habitats. Similar results of southern origin in other taxonomic groups can be found in the literature. Distribution and biogeographic history highly determine the origin of migration in birds of prey. Based on some comparative analyses, diet breadth also has an effect on
13920-581: The birds have escaped from also cause reduced fitness and premature deaths. Some evidence supports the contention that the African crowned eagle occasionally views human children as prey, with a witness account of one attack (in which the victim, a seven-year-old boy, survived and the eagle was killed), and the discovery of part of a human child skull in a nest. This would make it the only living bird known to prey on humans, although other birds such as ostriches and cassowaries have killed humans in self-defense and
14080-435: The body outline, making it harder to precisely identify and locate. However, disruptive patterns result in higher predation. Disruptive patterns that specifically involve visible symmetry (such as in some butterflies) reduce survivability and increase predation. Some researchers argue that because wing-shape and color pattern are genetically linked, it is genetically costly to develop asymmetric wing colorations that would enhance
14240-454: The body. On these, the nymph spreads an inner layer of fine particles and an outer layer of coarser particles. The camouflage may conceal the bug from both predators and prey. Similar principles can be applied for military purposes, for instance when a sniper wears a ghillie suit designed to be further camouflaged by decoration with materials such as tufts of grass from the sniper's immediate environment. Such suits were used as early as 1916,
14400-441: The branches of host-coral, Platygyra carnosa , which limits the geographical range and efficacy in nudibranch nutritional crypsis. Furthermore, the nudibranch colour change is not immediate, and switching between coral hosts when in search for new food or shelter can be costly. The costs associated with distractive or disruptive crypsis are more complex than the costs associated with background matching. Disruptive patterns distort
14560-456: The camouflage consists of two surfaces, each with the simple function of providing concealment against a specific background, such as a bright water surface or the sky. The body of a shark or the fuselage of an aircraft is not gradated from light to dark to appear flat when seen from the side. The camouflage methods used are the matching of background colour and pattern, and disruption of outlines. Counter-illumination means producing light to match
14720-461: The case in the 1909 book Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom , arguing that "All patterns and colors whatsoever of all animals that ever preyed or are preyed on are under certain normal circumstances obliterative" (that is, cryptic camouflage), and that "Not one ' mimicry ' mark, not one ' warning color '... nor any ' sexually selected ' color, exists anywhere in the world where there
14880-401: The change is controlled relatively slowly, mainly by hormones . In fish, the change is controlled by the brain, which sends signals directly to the chromatophores, as well as producing hormones. The skins of cephalopods such as the octopus contain complex units, each consisting of a chromatophore with surrounding muscle and nerve cells. The cephalopod chromatophore has all its pigment grains in
15040-408: The changing colour of the tree trunks on which they rest, from pale and mottled to almost black in polluted areas. This is taken by zoologists as evidence that camouflage is influenced by natural selection , as well as demonstrating that it changes where necessary to resemble the local background. Disruptive patterns use strongly contrasting, non-repeating markings such as spots or stripes to break up
15200-516: The clade containing Aquilinae and Harpiinae). The diurnal birds of prey are formally classified into six families of two different orders (Accipitriformes and Falconiformes). These families were traditionally grouped together in a single order Falconiformes but are now split into two orders, the Falconiformes and Accipitriformes . The Cathartidae are sometimes placed in a separate order Cathartiformes . Formerly, they were sometimes placed in
15360-538: The colour-changing abilities, both for camouflage and for signalling , of cephalopods including the octopus, in his Historia animalium : The octopus ... seeks its prey by so changing its colour as to render it like the colour of the stones adjacent to it; it does so also when alarmed . Camouflage has been a topic of interest and research in zoology for well over a century. According to Charles Darwin 's 1859 theory of natural selection , features such as camouflage evolved by providing individual animals with
15520-410: The combination of behaviours and other methods of crypsis involved, young giraffes seek cover, lie down, and keep still, often for hours until their mothers return; their skin pattern blends with the pattern of the vegetation, while the chosen cover and lying position together hide the animals' shadows. The flat-tail horned lizard similarly relies on a combination of methods: it is adapted to lie flat in
15680-498: The countershaded animal nearly invisible against a suitable background. Thayer observed that "Animals are painted by Nature, darkest on those parts which tend to be most lighted by the sky's light, and vice versa ". Accordingly, the principle of countershading is sometimes called Thayer's Law . Countershading is widely used by terrestrial animals , such as gazelles and grasshoppers; marine animals, such as sharks and dolphins ; and birds, such as snipe and dunlin . Countershading
15840-501: The day. The leopard's range in West Africa is estimated to have drastically declined by 95%, and in the Sahara desert by 97%. In sub-Saharan Africa , it is still numerous and surviving in marginal habitats where other large cats have disappeared. In southeastern Egypt , an individual found killed in 2017 was the first sighting of the leopard in this area in 65 years. In West Asia ,
16000-501: The efficacy of disruptive cryptic patterning. Symmetry does not carry a high survival cost for butterflies and moths that their predators views from above on a homogeneous background, such as the bark of a tree. On the other hand, natural selection drives species with variable backgrounds and habitats to move symmetrical patterns away from the centre of the wing and body, disrupting their predators' symmetry recognition. Camouflage can be achieved by different methods, described below. Most of
16160-468: The end of the Late Pleistocene -early Holocene . The leopard is adapted to a variety of habitats ranging from rainforest to steppe , including arid and montane areas. It is an opportunistic predator, hunting mostly ungulates and primates . It relies on its spotted pattern for camouflage as it stalks and ambushes its prey, which it sometimes drags up a tree. It is a solitary animal outside
16320-439: The evolution of migratory behaviour in this group, but its relevance needs further investigation. The evolution of migration in animals seems to be a complex and difficult topic with many unanswered questions. A recent study discovered new connections between migration and the ecology, life history of raptors. A brief overview from abstract of the published paper shows that "clutch size and hunting strategies have been proved to be
16480-462: The existing literature combining anatomical, genetic, and behavioural studies showed that, in general, raptors have functional olfactory systems that they are likely to use in a range of different contexts. Birds of prey have been historically persecuted both directly and indirectly. In the Danish Faroe Islands , there were rewards Naebbetold (by royal decree from 1741) given in return for
16640-417: The eye of prey animals on the lookout for predators, and of predators hunting for prey. Most methods of crypsis therefore also require suitable cryptic behaviour, such as lying down and keeping still to avoid being detected, or in the case of stalking predators such as the tiger , moving with extreme stealth, both slowly and quietly, watching its prey for any sign they are aware of its presence. As an example of
16800-493: The familiar names were applied to new birds with similar characteristics. Names that have generalised this way include: kite ( Milvus milvus ), sparrowhawk or sparhawk ( Accipiter nisus ), goshawk ( Accipiter gentilis ), kestrel ( Falco tinninculus ), hobby ( Falco subbuteo ), harrier (simplified from "hen-harrier", Circus cyaneus ), buzzard ( Buteo buteo ). Some names have not generalised, and refer to single species (or groups of closely related (sub)species), such as
16960-399: The features of their bodies, and to match their backgrounds. For example, a caddisfly larva builds a decorated case and lives almost entirely inside it; a decorator crab covers its back with seaweed, sponges, and stones. The nymph of the predatory masked bug uses its hind legs and a ' tarsal fan' to decorate its body with sand or dust. There are two layers of bristles ( trichomes ) over
17120-434: The female back into heat. Intervals between births average 15 to 24 months, but can be shorter, depending on the survival of the cubs. Females give birth in a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree or thicket. Newborn cubs weigh 280–1,000 g (9.9–35.3 oz), and are born with closed eyes, which open four to nine days after birth. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage
17280-1235: The first time by camera traps in the hill forests of Myanmar's Karen State . The Northern Tenasserim Forest Complex in southern Myanmar is considered a leopard stronghold. In Thailand, leopards are present in the Western Forest Complex , Kaeng Krachan - Kui Buri , Khlong Saeng - Khao Sok protected area complexes and in Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary bordering Malaysia. In Peninsular Malaysia , leopards are present in Belum-Temengor , Taman Negara and Endau-Rompin National Parks . In Laos, leopards were recorded in Nam Et-Phou Louey National Biodiversity Conservation Area and Nam Kan National Protected Area. In Cambodia, leopards inhabit deciduous dipterocarp forest in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary and Mondulkiri Protected Forest . In southern China, leopards were recorded only in
17440-736: The fish accordingly has crystal stacks with a range of different spacings. A further complication for fish with bodies that are rounded in cross-section is that the mirrors would be ineffective if laid flat on the skin, as they would fail to reflect horizontally. The overall mirror effect is achieved with many small reflectors, all oriented vertically. Silvering is found in other marine animals as well as fish. The cephalopods , including squid, octopus and cuttlefish, have multilayer mirrors made of protein rather than guanine. Some deep sea fishes have very black skin, reflecting under 0.5% of ambient light. This can prevent detection by predators or prey fish which use bioluminescence for illumination. Oneirodes had
17600-456: The flanks and the belly to about 25–30 mm (1.0–1.2 in). Juveniles have woolly fur that appear to be dark-coloured due to the densely arranged spots. Its fur tends to grow longer in colder climates. The leopard's rosettes differ from those of the jaguar , which are darker and with smaller spots inside. The leopard has a diploid chromosome number of 38. Melanistic leopards are also known as black panthers . Melanism in leopards
17760-475: The genetic components and various ecological pressures that drive crypsis. Camouflage is a soft-tissue feature that is rarely preserved in the fossil record, but rare fossilised skin samples from the Cretaceous period show that some marine reptiles were countershaded. The skins, pigmented with dark-coloured eumelanin , reveal that both leatherback turtles and mosasaurs had dark backs and light bellies. There
17920-435: The genetic components of camouflage in specific organisms illuminates the various ways that crypsis can evolve among lineages. Many cephalopods have the ability to actively camouflage themselves, controlling crypsis through neural activity. For example, the genome of the common cuttlefish includes 16 copies of the reflectin gene, which grants the organism remarkable control over coloration and iridescence. The reflectin gene
18080-503: The ground. In the Serengeti, they have been seen to ambush prey by descending on it from trees. It stalks its prey and tries to approach as closely as possible, typically within 5 m (16 ft) of the target, and, finally, pounces on it and kills it by suffocation. It kills small prey with a bite to the back of the neck, but holds larger animals by the throat and strangles them . It caches kills up to 2 km (1.2 mi) apart. It
18240-858: The higher the prey availability in an area, the greater the leopard population density and the smaller the size of home ranges, but they tend to expand if there is human interference. Sizes of home ranges vary geographically and depending on habitat and availability of prey. In the Serengeti , males have home ranges of 33–38 km (13–15 sq mi) and females of 14–16 km (5.4–6.2 sq mi); but males in northeastern Namibia of 451 km (174 sq mi) and females of 188 km (73 sq mi). They are even larger in arid and montane areas. In Nepal's Bardia National Park , male home ranges of 48 km (19 sq mi) and female ones of 5–7 km (1.9–2.7 sq mi) are smaller than those generally observed in Africa. The leopard
18400-400: The highest density of photoreceptors, and provide the highest points of visual acuity. The deep fovea points forward at an approximate 45° angle, while the shallow fovea points approximately 15° to the right or left of the head axis. Several raptor species repeatedly cock their heads into three distinct positions while observing an object. First, is straight ahead with their head pointed towards
18560-485: The horned lizards which live in open desert is adapted to minimise shadow is supported by the one species which lacks fringe scales, the roundtail horned lizard , which lives in rocky areas and resembles a rock. When this species is threatened, it makes itself look as much like a rock as possible by curving its back, emphasizing its three-dimensional shape. Some species of butterflies, such as the speckled wood, Pararge aegeria , minimise their shadows when perched by closing
18720-404: The largest distribution of all wild cats, occurring widely in Africa and Asia, although populations are fragmented and declining. It inhabits foremost savanna and rainforest , and areas where grasslands , woodlands and riparian forests remain largely undisturbed. It also persists in urban environments, if it is not persecuted, has sufficient prey and patches of vegetation for shelter during
18880-471: The largest known wild leopard in India. The largest recorded skull of a leopard was found in India in 1920 and measured 28 cm (11 in) in basal length, 20 cm (7.9 in) in breadth, and weighed 1 kg (2.2 lb). The skull of an African leopard measured 286 mm (11.3 in) in basal length, and 181 mm (7.1 in) in breadth, and weighed 790 g (28 oz). The leopard has
19040-413: The last common ancestor of the Panthera and Neofelis genera is thought to have lived about 6.37 million years ago . Neofelis diverged about 8.66 million years ago from the Panthera lineage . The tiger diverged about 6.55 million years ago , followed by the snow leopard about 4.63 million years ago and the leopard about 4.35 million years ago . The leopard
19200-770: The leopard inhabits remain in the areas of southern and southeastern Anatolia . Leopard populations in the Arabian Peninsula are small and fragmented. In the Indian subcontinent , the leopard is still relatively abundant, with greater numbers than those of other Panthera species. Some leopard populations in India live quite close to human settlements and even in semi-developed areas. Although adaptable to human disturbances, leopards require healthy prey populations and appropriate vegetative cover for hunting for prolonged survival and thus rarely linger in heavily developed areas. Due to
19360-509: The leopard is 9.3 years. The average life span of a leopard is 12–17 years. The oldest leopard was a captive female that died at the age of 24 years, 2 months and 13 days. Birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds , also known as raptors , are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals , reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators have keen eyesight for detecting prey from
19520-530: The leopard to store its prey away from rivals, and offers it an advantage over them. The way it stores the kill depends on local topography and individual preferences, varying from trees in Kruger National Park to bushes in the plain terrain of the Kalahari. Average daily consumption rates of 3.5 kg (7 lb 11 oz) were estimated for males and of 2.8 kg (6 lb 3 oz) for females. In
19680-437: The leopard's main competitors are tigers and dholes . Both the larger tiger and pack-living dhole dominate leopards during encounters. Interactions between the three predators involve chasing, stealing kills and direct killing. Tigers appear to inhabit the deep parts of the forest while leopards and dholes are pushed closer to the fringes. The three predators coexist by hunting different sized prey. In Nagarhole National Park ,
19840-456: The leopard's stealth, people often remain unaware that it lives in nearby areas. As of 2020, the leopard population within forested habitats in India's tiger range landscapes was estimated at 12,172 to 13,535 individuals. Surveyed landscapes included elevations below 2,600 m (8,500 ft) in the Shivalik Hills and Gangetic plains , Central India and Eastern Ghats , Western Ghats ,
20000-421: The local environment. As there is a lack of evidence for camouflage in the fossil record, studying the evolution of camouflage strategies is very difficult. Furthermore, camouflage traits must be both adaptable (provide a fitness gain in a given environment) and heritable (in other words, the trait must undergo positive selection ). Thus, studying the evolution of camouflage strategies requires an understanding of
20160-846: The mating season and when raising cubs. Females usually give birth to a litter of 2–4 cubs once in 15–24 months. Both male and female leopards typically reach sexual maturity at the age 2–2.5 years. Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List , leopard populations are currently threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, and are declining in large parts of the global range. Leopards have had cultural roles in Ancient Greece , West Africa and modern Western culture. Leopard skins are popular in fashion. The English name "leopard" comes from Old French leupart or Middle French liepart , that derives from Latin leopardus and ancient Greek λέοπάρδος ( leopardos ). Leopardos could be
20320-530: The method mainly for its efficiency rather than camouflage. Animals such as chameleon , frog, flatfish such as the peacock flounder , squid, octopus and even the isopod idotea balthica actively change their skin patterns and colours using special chromatophore cells to resemble their current background, or, as in most chameleons, for signalling . However, Smith's dwarf chameleon does use active colour change for camouflage. Each chromatophore contains pigment of only one colour. In fish and frogs, colour change
20480-425: The methods help to hide against a background; but mimesis and motion dazzle protect without hiding. Methods may be applied on their own or in combination. Many mechanisms are visual, but some research has explored the use of techniques against olfactory (scent) and acoustic (sound) detection. Methods may also apply to military equipment. Some animals' colours and patterns match a particular natural background. This
20640-465: The microhabitat, the organism has a higher chance of detection. Generalized camouflage allows species to avoid predation over a wide range of habitat backgrounds, but is less effective. The development of generalized or specialized camouflage strategies is highly dependent on the biotic and abiotic composition of the surrounding environment. There are many examples of the tradeoffs between specific and general cryptic patterning. Phestilla melanocrachia ,
20800-583: The most important variables in shaping distribution areas, and also the geographic dissimilarities may mask important relationships between life history traits and migratory behaviours. The West Palearctic-Afrotropical and the North-South American migratory systems are fundamentally different from the East Palearctic-Indomalayan system, owing to the presence versus absence of ecological barriers." Maximum entropy modelling can help in answering
20960-821: The narrower definition followed in this page, excluding many piscivorous predators such as storks , cranes , herons , gulls , skuas , penguins , and kingfishers , as well as many primarily insectivorous birds such as passerines (e.g. shrikes ), nightjars , frogmouths , songbirds such as crows and ravens , alongside opportunistic predators from predominantly frugivorous or herbivorous ratites such as cassowaries and rheas . Some extinct predatory telluravian birds had talons similar to those of modern birds of prey, including mousebird relatives ( Sandcoleidae ), and Messelasturidae indicating possible common descent . Some Enantiornithes also had such talons, indicating possible convergent evolution , as enanthiornithines weren't even modern birds . The term raptor
21120-444: The nest and hunting. Larger females are favored because they can incubate larger numbers of offspring, while also being able to brood a larger clutch size. It is a long-standing belief that birds lack any sense of smell, but it has become clear that many birds do have functional olfactory systems . Despite this, most raptors are still considered to primarily rely on vision, with raptor vision being extensively studied. A 2020 review of
21280-527: The night sky, requiring awkward external platforms to support the lamps. The Canadian concept was refined in the American Yehudi lights project, and trialled in aircraft including B-24 Liberators and naval Avengers . The planes were fitted with forward-pointing lamps automatically adjusted to match the brightness of the night sky. This enabled them to approach much closer to a target – within 3,000 yards (2,700 m) – before being seen. Counterillumination
21440-712: The north up to Derby in England , in the east to Přerov in the Czech Republic and the Baranya in southern Hungary . Leopards arrived in Eurasia during the late Early to Middle Pleistocene around 1.2 to 0.6 million years ago. Four European Pleistocene leopard subspecies were proposed. P. p. begoueni from the beginning of the Early Pleistocene was replaced about 0.6 million years ago by P. p. sickenbergi , which in turn
21600-416: The object visible but momentarily harder to locate. The majority of camouflage methods aim for crypsis, often through a general resemblance to the background, high contrast disruptive coloration , eliminating shadow, and countershading . In the open ocean, where there is no background, the principal methods of camouflage are transparencying, silveringing, and countershading, while the ability to produce light
21760-629: The object. Second and third are sideways to the right or left of the object, with their head axis positioned approximately 40° adjacent to the object. This movement is believed to be associated with lining up the incoming image to fall on the deep fovea. Raptors will choose which head position to use depending on the distance to the object. At distances as close as 8m, they used primarily binocular vision. At distances greater than 21m, they spent more time using monocular vision. At distances greater than 40m, they spent 80% or more time using their monocular vision. This suggests that raptors tilt their head to rely on
21920-464: The oldest dates published so far in the case of birds of prey. For example, a previous reconstruction of migratory behaviour in one Buteo clade with a result of the origin of migration around 5 million years ago was also supported by that study. Migratory species of raptors may have had a southern origin because it seems that all of the major lineages within Accipitridae had an origin in one of
22080-512: The open desert, relying on stillness, its cryptic coloration, and concealment of its shadow to avoid being noticed by predators. In the ocean, the leafy sea dragon sways mimetically, like the seaweeds amongst which it rests, as if rippled by wind or water currents. Swaying is seen also in some insects, like Macleay's spectre stick insect, Extatosoma tiaratum . The behaviour may be motion crypsis, preventing detection, or motion masquerade, promoting misclassification (as something other than prey), or
22240-412: The order Ciconiiformes . The secretary bird and/or osprey are sometimes listed as subfamilies of Acciptridae: Sagittariinae and Pandioninae, respectively. Australia's letter-winged kite is a member of the family Accipitridae , although it is a nocturnal bird. The nocturnal birds of prey—the owls —are classified separately as members of two extant families of the order Strigiformes : Below
22400-503: The order Gruiformes . And they are still not considered birds of prey in general parlance. Their bodies are also shaped completely differently from birds of prey. They have long legs and long necks. While secretarybirds also have long legs, they otherwise resemble raptors. Seriemas do not. Their beak is hooked, but too long. Migratory behaviour evolved multiple times within accipitrid raptors. The earliest event occurred nearly 14 to 12 million years ago. This result seems to be one of
22560-404: The outlines of an animal or military vehicle, or to conceal telltale features, especially by masking the eyes , as in the common frog . Disruptive patterns may use more than one method to defeat visual systems such as edge detection . Predators like the leopard use disruptive camouflage to help them approach prey, while potential prey use it to avoid detection by predators. Disruptive patterning
22720-808: The owls remained monogeneric (family Ægolii, genus Strix ), whilst the diurnal raptors were divided into three families: Vulturini, Gypaëti, and Accipitrini. Thus Vieillot's families were similar to the Linnaean genera, with the difference that shrikes were no longer included amongst the birds of prey. In addition to the original Vultur and Falco (now reduced in scope), Vieillot adopted four genera from Savigny: Phene , Haliæetus , Pandion , and Elanus . He also introduced five new genera of vultures ( Gypagus , Catharista , Daptrius , Ibycter , Polyborus ) and eleven new genera of accipitrines ( Aquila , Circaëtus , Circus , Buteo , Milvus , Ictinia , Physeta , Harpia , Spizaëtus , Asturina , Sparvius ). Falconimorphae
22880-820: The placement of the birds of prey. Their analysis has found support in a clade consisting of the Strigiformes and Accipitriformes in new clade Hieraves . Hieraves was also recovered to be the sister clade to Australaves (which it includes the Cariamiformes and Falconiformes along with Psittacopasserae ). Below is their phylogeny from the study. Coraciimorphae (woodpeckers, rollers, hornbills, etc.) [REDACTED] Strigiformes (owls) [REDACTED] Accipitriformes (hawks, vultures, and relatives) [REDACTED] Cariamiformes (seriemas) [REDACTED] Falconiformes (falcons) [REDACTED] Psittacopasserae (parrots and songbirds) [REDACTED] Cariamiformes
23040-506: The predator's gaze. These distractive markings may serve as camouflage by distracting the predator's attention from recognising the prey as a whole, for example by keeping the predator from identifying the prey's outline. Experimentally, search times for blue tits increased when artificial prey had distractive markings. Some animals actively seek to hide by decorating themselves with materials such as twigs, sand, or pieces of shell from their environment, to break up their outlines, to conceal
23200-464: The question: why species winters at one location while the others are elsewhere. Temperature and precipitation related factors differ in the limitation of species distributions. "This suggests that the migratory behaviours differ among the three main migratory routes for these species" which may have important conservational consequences in the protection of migratory raptors. Birds of prey (raptors) are known to display patterns of sexual dimorphism . It
23360-468: The same time in Australia , zoologist William John Dakin advised soldiers to copy animals' methods, using their instincts for wartime camouflage. The term countershading has a second meaning unrelated to "Thayer's Law". It is that the upper and undersides of animals such as sharks, and of some military aircraft, are different colours to match the different backgrounds when seen from above or from below. Here
23520-466: The shrimps it associates with, Pseudopalaemon gouldingi , are so transparent as to be "almost invisible"; further, these species appear to select whether to be transparent or more conventionally mottled (disruptively patterned) according to the local background in the environment. Where transparency cannot be achieved, it can be imitated effectively by silvering to make an animal's body highly reflective. At medium depths at sea, light comes from above, so
23680-474: The sides of a tank. The Peltier plate panels are heated and cooled to match either the vehicle's surroundings (crypsis), or an object such as a car (mimesis), when viewed in infrared. Countershading uses graded colour to counteract the effect of self-shadowing, creating an illusion of flatness. Self-shadowing makes an animal appear darker below than on top, grading from light to dark; countershading 'paints in' tones which are darkest on top, lightest below, making
23840-501: The southern Kalahari Desert , leopards meet their water requirements by the bodily fluids of prey and succulent plants ; they drink water every two to three days and feed infrequently on moisture-rich plants such as gemsbok cucumbers , watermelon and Kalahari sour grass . Across its range, the leopard coexists with a number of other large predators. In Africa, it is part of a large predator guild with lions, cheetahs, spotted and brown hyenas , and African wild dogs . The leopard
24000-715: The summer to white in the winter; the Arctic fox is the only species in the dog family to do so. However, Arctic hares which live in the far north of Canada , where summer is very short, remain white year-round. The principle of varying coloration either rapidly or with the changing seasons has military applications. Active camouflage could in theory make use of both dynamic colour change and counterillumination. Simple methods such as changing uniforms and repainting vehicles for winter have been in use since World War II. In 2011, BAE Systems announced their Adaptiv infrared camouflage technology. It uses about 1,000 hexagonal panels to cover
24160-827: The target's speed, range, and heading. During and after the Second World War , a variety of camouflage schemes were used for aircraft and for ground vehicles in different theatres of war. The use of radar since the mid-20th century has largely made camouflage for fixed-wing military aircraft obsolete. Non-military use of camouflage includes making cell telephone towers less obtrusive and helping hunters to approach wary game animals. Patterns derived from military camouflage are frequently used in fashion clothing, exploiting their strong designs and sometimes their symbolism. Camouflage themes recur in modern art, and both figuratively and literally in science fiction and works of literature. In ancient Greece, Aristotle (384–322 BC) commented on
24320-468: The theory to a fantastic extreme in an endeavour to make it cover almost every type of coloration in the animal kingdom." Cott built on Thayer's discoveries, developing a comprehensive view of camouflage based on "maximum disruptive contrast", countershading and hundreds of examples. The book explained how disruptive camouflage worked, using streaks of boldly contrasting colour, paradoxically making objects less visible by breaking up their outlines. While Cott
24480-409: The trees and out of reach. Lions have a high success rate in fetching leopard kills from trees. Leopards do not seem to actively avoid their competitors but rather difference in prey and habitat preferences appear to limit their spatial overlap. In particular, leopards use heavy vegetation regardless of whether lions are present in an area and both cats are active at the same time of day. In Asia,
24640-506: The wavelength of visible light. A familiar example is the transparency of the lens of the vertebrate eye , which is made of the protein crystallin , and the vertebrate cornea which is made of the protein collagen . Other structures cannot be made transparent, notably the retinas or equivalent light-absorbing structures of eyes – they must absorb light to be able to function. The camera -type eye of vertebrates and cephalopods must be completely opaque. Finally, some structures are visible for
24800-540: The wings over their backs, aligning their bodies with the sun, and tilting to one side towards the sun, so that the shadow becomes a thin inconspicuous line rather than a broad patch. Similarly, some ground-nesting birds, including the European nightjar , select a resting position facing the sun. Eliminating shadow was identified as a principle of military camouflage during the Second World War . Many prey animals have conspicuous high-contrast markings which paradoxically attract
24960-404: Was designated as the type species of Panthera by Joel Asaph Allen in 1902. In 1917, Reginald Innes Pocock also subordinated the tiger ( P. tigris ), lion ( P. leo ), and jaguar ( P. onca ) to Panthera . Following Linnaeus' first description, 27 leopard subspecies were proposed by naturalists between 1794 and 1956. Since 1996, only eight subspecies have been considered valid on
25120-530: Was first described in 1758, and several subspecies were proposed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, eight subspecies are recognised in its wide range in Africa and Asia . It initially evolved in Africa during the Early Pleistocene , before migrating into Eurasia around the Early– Middle Pleistocene transition. Leopards were formerly present across Europe, but became extinct in the region at around
25280-462: Was made obsolete by radar , and neither diffused lighting camouflage nor Yehudi lights entered active service. Many marine animals that float near the surface are highly transparent , giving them almost perfect camouflage. However, transparency is difficult for bodies made of materials that have different refractive indices from seawater. Some marine animals such as jellyfish have gelatinous bodies, composed mainly of water; their thick mesogloea
25440-496: Was more systematic and balanced in his view than Thayer, and did include some experimental evidence on the effectiveness of camouflage, his 500-page textbook was, like Thayer's, mainly a natural history narrative which illustrated theories with examples. Experimental evidence that camouflage helps prey avoid being detected by predators was first provided in 2016, when ground-nesting birds ( plovers and coursers ) were shown to survive according to how well their egg contrast matched
25600-531: Was replaced by P. p. antiqua around 0.3 million years ago. P. p. spelaea is the most recent subspecies that appeared at the beginning of the Late Pleistocene and survived until about 11,000 years ago and possibly into the early Holocene in the Iberian Peninsula . Leopards depicted in cave paintings in Chauvet Cave provide indirect evidence of leopard presence in Europe. Leopard fossils dating to
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