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Orienting to the sun improves camouflage for bilaterally symmetrical prey

Veronica Mavrovouna, Olivier Penacchio, William Allen Orcid Logo

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume: 134, Issue: 4, Pages: 803 - 808

Swansea University Author: William Allen Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1093/biolinnean/blab130

Abstract

Here, we investigate the camouflage consequences of animal orientation behaviour. Shadows can be a conspicuous cue to the presence of prey. For bilaterally symmetrical animals, light field modelling indicates that camouflage will be improved when an animal orients its longitudinal axis directly towa...

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Published in: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
ISSN: 0024-4066 1095-8312
Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2021
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58531
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Abstract: Here, we investigate the camouflage consequences of animal orientation behaviour. Shadows can be a conspicuous cue to the presence of prey. For bilaterally symmetrical animals, light field modelling indicates that camouflage will be improved when an animal orients its longitudinal axis directly towards or away from the sun, because the appearance of shadows is minimized. We test this prediction with a field predation experiment, in which wild birds hunt for artificial camouflaged prey oriented with the longitudinal axis either parallel or perpendicular to the sun. We find that prey oriented parallel to the sun are 3.93 times more likely to survive than prey oriented perpendicular to the sun. This result demonstrates the strong orientation dependence of camouflage. Given the dramatic difference in survival of prey with different orientations, we suggest that camouflage should be investigated as an important determinant of the positional behaviour of animals.
Keywords: antipredator, camouflage, countershading, orientation, predation, visual ecology
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Issue: 4
Start Page: 803
End Page: 808

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