The entire point of camouflage as a whole is to confuse the senses. People tend to rely very heavily on vision, so camouflage aims to hide someone or something with the help of fabric, paint, and patterns.

What colors and patterns end up being used on uniforms will depend a lot on the local terrain. For instance, shades of brown and yellow might be used in the desert, compared to browns and greens in wooded locales. Meanwhile, black, grey, and white will often be found on camo gear meant for snowy areas.

It’s not just people that use camouflage. It’s an integral part of survival in the animal kingdom. Broadly speaking, there are three main categories of camouflage. The first one is called background matching, where animals have colors and patterns that match their surroundings.

With background matching, animals are harder for predators to spot. That means that they survive longer and can end up passing their genes down more effectively because they have more time to breed. Chameleons, for instance, are legendary for their ability to change their color to match their surroundings.

The second type of camo is known as disruptive coloration. It’s a tad sneakier. Essentially, it breaks up the outline of the animal’s body, making it more difficult for predators to home in on them.

One example of this would be how stripes work on a zebra’s fur. Some animals, however, go the route of mimicry, where they imitate another animal or an inanimate object. Stick insects, (obviously) look like sticks.

However, nobody should think that camouflage somehow perfectly defends a person or an animal. That would be a huge mistake to make. It’s far better than nothing, but predators have evolved ways to spot their prey better.

Some animals might be able to see into different spectrums, for example. Meanwhile, leaps and bounds in technology mean that people are constantly finding new ways to find what others try to hide.

Some predators have camouflage of their own to make sneaking easier and their hunts more successful. Tigers blend in with the tall grass thanks to their stripes. Octopuses change their texture and color to match their surroundings, avoid predators, and hunt their prey.

Meanwhile, polar bears have white fur, meaning that they blend into the snowy background of the Arctic. Polar bears’ skin is actually black and their hairs are translucent, so they appear white because of how they reflect the light. 

Ultimately, animals that develop camouflage that isn’t useful for the environment that they’re in typically do not survive. On the flip side, the animals that better match their surroundings have a higher chance of surviving and breeding. Their offspring will look similar to them. Gradually, over many generations, the animals will match their environments better and better.

How animals will develop camo and what types of colors and patterns end up being passed on also heavily depend on the types of predators that hunt in the area. As ‘How Stuff Works’ points out, there wouldn’t be a point to animals replicating the color of their surroundings if their predators were colorblind. If new predators end up in the area, this would also disrupt how various local species develop their natural camo.

A huge issue is that due to climate change and rapid urbanization, the environments in which wildlife lives can change drastically. These changes might force some species to adapt quickly in order to survive in a landscape full of new colors, drastically changing how they look. It can also force species to migrate, creating new biospheres where camo that has served some animals for dozens if not hundreds of generations is no longer a viable strategy.

If you'd like to see some more photos of accidental camouflage, be sure to check out Bored Panda's previous features once you're done enjoying this post.