# Black/white/gray camouflage **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2005, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163 "2005-11-15T15:25:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/1 "2005-11-15T15:25:25Z")
Brown and green camouflage is for forested terrain. Shades of brown and tan is for desert. What is the point of black/white/gray camouflage? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/2 "2005-11-15T15:30:40Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Brown and green camouflage is for forested terrain. Shades of brown and tan is for desert. What is the point of black/white/gray camouflage? Snow. Alpine/arctic. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/3 "2005-11-15T15:31:46Z")
Snow covered forest. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/4 "2005-11-15T15:35:06Z")
Makes sense. I’d thought of snow, but the gray and white didn’t make sense – didn’t think it through to “snowy forest.” :smack: Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/5 "2005-11-15T15:36:04Z")
No, Urban Warfare. Unless it is overwhelmingly white. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/6 "2005-11-15T15:42:07Z")
[http://www.predatorcamo.com/patterns.html](http://www.predatorcamo.com/patterns.html) Note the “fall gray” and “winter white” patterns. Pure white would only work well in a completely snow-covered landscape, without exposed rocks, trees, or bushes. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/7 "2005-11-15T16:13:55Z")
Cool pix – thanks, **Colibri**! (BTW, read that book you recommended on the coevolution of birds and fruit in the topics – very interesting! Thanks for that tip as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/8 "2005-11-15T16:14:27Z")
Could **twickster** post a link to what it looks like? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/9 "2005-11-15T16:16:53Z")
There are many samples at the bottom of [this page.](http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/bdu.htm) Which one were you asking about? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/10 "2005-11-15T16:30:09Z")
Oops, sorry – I thought **Bosda** was making a joke, I didn’t realize there really was such a category. (Hell of a universe we live in, isn’t it?) It could have been either **Colibri** ’s “predator winter white” or **silenus** ’s “city” – I saw it on a young man walking along a (tree-lined, residential) city street this morning as I was waiting at a light, and didn’t examine it carefully. Clearly the young man was wearing it as a fashion statement – I just started wondering whether there was an actual camouflage purpose to such a pattern, or whether it was an adaptation of a “real” pattern translated into black/white/gray for, well, fashion purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/11 "2005-11-15T16:38:51Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Cool pix – thanks, **Colibri**! (BTW, read that book you recommended on the coevolution of birds and fruit in the topics – very interesting! Thanks for that tip as well.) You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked the book. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/12 "2005-11-15T17:00:33Z")
I used to have some BDUs in what was listed as “subdued urban” - two or three shades of medium/dark gray and black. Good for blending into a bus stop. 😃 Of course, then there are the novelty schemes. Standard woodland patters, but in bright yellow/orange/brown or black/white/purple? I suspect there’s nothing those would blend into. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/13 "2005-11-15T17:40:01Z")
The factory where I worked had everything painted teal up to about waist level and white above that. One day, I saw a time-study man dressed in teal pants and a white shirt. I didn’t spot him until he moved. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/14 "2005-11-15T17:48:03Z")
Also you have to remember that the main purpose of camo isn’t to look like the surroundings so much as to break up your outline. Check out these pics of WW1 ships [here](http://www.gotouring.com/razzledazzle/articles/dazzle.html). They weren’t exactly blending into the background, but the design allowed for confusion. (It explains the concept in detail in the site). Now look at these tanks [http://www.emlra.org/articles/berlin\_brigade.htm](http://www.emlra.org/articles/berlin_brigade.htm). Straight lines, yet the tank in the second pic blends in really well. The shapes used are designed to trick they eyes preception of light/shadows. Im guessing that this is the purpose of street camo colours too. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-gray-camouflage/331163/15 "2005-11-15T17:56:01Z")
I thought the idea behind bright or “day-glo” orange as part of a camouflage color scheme was that animals are color blind. Animals can’t see you and your fellow hunters will see you and won’t shoot. However, I will yield the point to any real hunters out there.