Large Fierce Mammal

Source: https://visionsofempire.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/the-implications-of-hunting-camouflage/

Speak the word “camouflage”, and the minds of most will immediately turn to things military; but in truth, camouflage has been in use since the first organisms ensured the survival of their kind by evolving means both to passively evade consumption by a higher tier predator, and for predators, to remain undetected by prey until the last moment.

Yes, this is actually a Fly. (Source: http://beespotter.mste.illinois.edu/topics/mimics/)

Passively. There’s the distinction, for camouflage in Nature is all about going about your business without attracting unwanted attention. This can be by means of going unnoticed by blending in, or by going to the other extreme, and thereby appearing to be something that isn’t on the menu. The first example explains why the best place to hide a car is in a parking lot, and the second why there are camouflage techniques that are intentionally eye catching rather than blending the wearer into the background. In this class are flies that are coloured in the black and yellow striped scheme characteristic of some Bees and Wasps, for tasty and tender though they may be, they LOOK like something that can sting, and what Frog, Fish, or Bird wants that in their mouth?

Camouflage, then, is all about deception, and can be used to equal effect by both predator and prey – the Octopus for example, can change colour and surface texture to match the background on which it rests to hide its presence from things it wants to eat, or that want to eat it …

… but can quickly change to a vivid and eye catching colour if deemed necessary to intimidate an interloper into leaving the vicinity.

Sort of like speaking politely to someone who doesn’t get your point until your claws come out in a storm of profanity. The contrast matters more than the content.

In closing, I invite you to view and meditate on this training film – Monty Python’s How Not to be Seen.