Butterfly Camouflage – is it a leaf or a butterfly? Sometimes it’s hard to tell!

Butterflies have a range of tricks up their sleeve (wing?) to hide from predators.

Sometimes they simply hide under leaves, but that’s not always practical and they are forced to hide in more open areas. In this instance, they will use techniques such as camouflage, disguise and transparency to hide from predators.

Generally, camouflage is considered to describe something with a colour, pattern or texture that helps it to blend into its surroundings. For a butterfly, this can include rocks, soil, tree trunks and branches and foliage.

Disguise refers to a butterfly or moth that resembles another object such as a leaf, or a flower. Moths tend to be better at this – some moths look like twigs or lichen on a tree!

Here are some examples of butterflies being mistaken for other things – can you tell which is which?