Can YOU spot the birds hidden in these images Photos reveal the unbelievable camouflage tactics used by animals to avoid predators in Zambia - Live News

Can YOU spot the birds hidden in these images Photos reveal the unbelievable camouflage tactics used by animals to avoid predators in Zambia







At first glance, you would be forgiven for mistaking these images as scenic landscapes.

But if you look closely, you may be able to spot some creatures hidden within the photos.

A new study has shown how animals that rely on camouflage choose the best places to conceal themselves based on their appearance.



Nightjars and plovers are born with natural camouflage, possessing feathers which blend in with their habitat, but we now know there may be cleverness involved.

These birds, it has emerged, seem to know what they look like and carefully choose their background to match.

They get it right to within a few inches, researchers at Exeter University found, with each female bird picking the exact spot which matches their individual markings.

When compared to other potential nesting spots five centimetres, 20 centimetres and five metres (16 feet) away, birds’ nesting locations were in almost every case the best matched for colour, brightness and their unique pattern.

Professor Martin Stevens, from Exeter University, who led a study making the discovery, said: ‘This is not a species-level choice. Individual birds consistently sit in places that enhance their own unique markings, both within a habitat, and at a fine scale with regards to specific background sites.’



He added: ‘It could be that somehow they “know” what they look like and act accordingly.

‘They may look at themselves, their eggs and the background and judge whether it’s a good place to nest, or learn over time about what kinds of places their eggs escape being eaten.’

Scientists from Exeter and Cambridge universities looked at nine hard-to-see bird species - nightjars, plovers and coursers.

All nest on the ground, making it vital to hide from their predators including mongooses and vervet monkeys.

It is known that animals, from butterflies to lizards, rest in places which match their colourings.

This is the first study to look at wild birds, taking in more than 190 nests in the south of Zambia.



The British researchers used camera filters and a computer programme to view the nesting sites through the eyes of the birds and their predators, which have better colour vision than humans.

Nesting sites chosen by the birds, in almost every case, matched their feathers and their eggs better than other females’ choices and locations further away.

Co-author Dr Jolyon Troscinanko said: ‘The nightjars are such masters of camouflage that when we returned to a nest to find them, the GPS would tell us we were less than six feet away and we knew they were in front of us, but it would take a good five minutes to be able to see them.