If you have been in the woods for any significant period of
time, you have undoubtedly had an experience with an animal and
camouflage. It may be a grouse that you did not see until it takes
off unexpectedly from right in front of you. Perhaps there is a
lizard on a tree or a fence post that was almost invisible to you
because its colors matched the object it was on. For years
evolutionists used the peppered moth as an example of evolution in
which a population of moths changed color to match the new
environment in which they found themselves, making it harder for
their enemies to see them. In the oceans, camouflage is even more
effective and more complex because of the wider range of colors and
the effect the water has on how color is visualized.
The champion of camouflage in the
ocean is probably the cuttlefish. The cuttlefish is a cephalopod,
related to squid and octopus. I have snorkeled in areas where there
were large numbers of these creatures and have seen the huge range
of colors and patterns their bodies can display. These cuttlefish
have no color vision themselves, so they do not choose backgrounds
to hide in. Dr. J. Kenneth Wickiser at the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point has been studying this issue with new imaging technology
called Hyper Spectral Imaging (HSI). Instead of using the usual
three windows of color vision (red, green, and blue) this new
technology uses 540 windows covering the entire spectrum. The
cuttlefish color capacity is so good that it exceeds the biological
capacity of the fish’s predators so the only tool the predator has
for seeing the cuttlefish is the brightness. In normal lighting the
cuttlefish can be right in front of a predator and the predator
cannot see it.
The design of this camouflage system is incredible. Man’s most
complex technologies have enabled us to see how it works, but we
cannot duplicate the mechanism. All we can do is admire it. Without
such a complex system, these creatures would be wiped out very
quickly, but sophisticated wisdom and planning has given them safety
in a hostile world. Such design speaks of a Designer who gave
animals what they need to survive, and did so with some techniques
we are still struggling to understand. Everywhere we look, God’s
wonder-working hand has gone before.
Source:
http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news-IN-Colorblind-Animals-Change-Colors-to-Blend-into-the-Background-051711.aspx
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