Posted: 12/29/2010 7:19:38 AM EDT
How do they do it!?
Is it just wishful thinking on their part, or do their surroundings some how intermingle with the genes? |
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The one's that don't fit in usually die before they reproduce. Natural Selection. Put two populations of rabbits into two blue rooms. Wait many generations with no predators. Let's say that one of those populations develops green fur and the other produces blue fur. Then put both populations in one blue room with two hungry coyotes. The green rabbits will be easier to see and will be targeted more by the coyotes. After time you will end up with all blue rabbits because they can hide from predators easier. That's the basic concept. Developing camouflage is random, but those that happen to develop the right camouflage will be much more likely to survive long enough to produce children and pass on that camouflage. |
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lol, I was looking at camo for my M1A last night (2AM) and was like HTF do snakes do it. Whats a good mesh to use to create the "scale" appearance? http://www.johnwillisart.com/assets/images/db_images/db_288284d11.jpg The scales don't help the camo of a copperhead any. They blend in with dry leaves, the pattern on that rifle is too large. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
The one's that don't fit in usually die before they reproduce. Natural Selection. Put two populations of rabbits into two blue rooms. Wait many generations with no predators. Let's say that one of those populations develops green fur and the other produces blue fur. Then put both populations in one blue room with two hungry coyotes. The green rabbits will be easier to see and will be targeted more by the coyotes. After time you will end up with all blue rabbits because they can hide from predators easier. That's the basic concept. Developing camouflage is random, but those that happen to develop the right camouflage will be much more likely to survive long enough to produce children and pass on that camouflage. Except that without any predators there's no particular reason for one color to become prominent among a given population (barring sexual attraction, of course). It's more like you put one population of rabbits in a huge blue room, with two hungry coyotes. Those rabbits which happen to be born with DNA abnormalities which make them blue will be more likely to survive long enough to reproduce. |
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They have to eat stuff with the coloration they want. The coloration starts at the tail and works its way towards the head, so you can tell the order of the color of food the snake was eating.
Snakes are born a bright neon orange, so they have to eat fast to survive, which is why you never see orange snakes in the wild. Interestingly, they instinctively avoid eating things that would turn them back to orange. This is actually the main reason hunting clothing is colored bright orange - it is a snake repellent. |
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I believe that there is a huge committee somewhere that designs the animal's camo patterns, or at least they ensure that some animals don't steal the camo patterns from another animal.
That's why you don't see a zebra pattern on a doberman. Yeah, I know, a dobie might look cool with a zebra pattern, but it is FORBIDDEN. |