# You're fifteen feet tall and eat trees -- why the camouflage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 19, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670 "2007-05-19T00:20:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/21 "2007-05-19T14:06:27Z")
[QUOTE=StarvingButStrong] Is another question. Why DON’T we have any green mammals? Surely that would make hiding much easier for squirrels and such especially. [/QUOTE] A brown squirrel looks like a bump on a branch, and a green squirrel against the background of a brown trunk would stand out. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/22 "2007-05-19T14:24:53Z")
[QUOTE=StarvingButStrong] Well, I don’t think much preys on giraffes, unless they’re already sick/dying. [/QUOTE] [I beg to differ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAqrVRi6tMU). ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/23 "2007-05-19T16:49:40Z")
Stupid giraffe question: do giraffes ever sit or lie down? Becuase if they’re taking their ease on the ground, camouflage becomes much more pertinent. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/24 "2007-05-19T17:07:11Z")
To expand on the talapoins - they are rather similar to the vervet, sometimes referred to as the [African green monkey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_green_monkey), whose genus name, Chlorocebus, reinforces the notion. Again, it’s a matter of debate as to whether you would actually call them “green”: > [@](#): > > The dorsal fur of the vervet monkey varies by species from pale yellow through grey-green brown to dark brown, while the lower portion and the hair ring around the face is a whitish yellow. Green? Well, maybe … sort of. 😛 \<- Like this guy? No. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/25 "2007-05-19T17:08:03Z")
[QUOTE=StarvingButStrong] Why DON’T we have any green mammals? Surely that would make hiding much easier for squirrels and such especially. [/QUOTE] Can their major predators/prey even **see** colour? I don’t know, maybe **Colibri** would know - I’m sure a major predator group would be raptors. I’m pretty sure most mammalian predators are colourblind, though. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/26 "2007-05-19T17:17:24Z")
Most mammals are dichromatic - their color perception approximates a human with dueteronopia, commonly called red/green colorblindness. There are other exceptions besides humans. Kangaroos have trichromatic vision, IIRC. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/27 "2007-05-19T19:32:38Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] Can their major predators/prey even **see** colour? I don’t know, maybe **Colibri** would know - I’m sure a major predator group would be raptors. I’m pretty sure most mammalian predators are colourblind, though. [/QUOTE] As **yabob** says, most mammals except for primates have poor color vision, with only two types of color receptors. Old World monkeys and apes including humans have three color receptors. Birds and most other vertebrates have even better color vision, since they usually have four receptors. **Don’t fight the hypothetical’s** link has a fairly good discussion of reasons there are no really green mammals. As has already been pointed out, there are almost no other animals that are “really” green either, in the sense of having green pigments. Almost all blues and greens are structural colors. Mammalian hair may just not be suited to produce structural colors such as the ones that can be produced by feathers or bare skin. Also, since the vast majority of mammals are nocturnal, pattern is much more important than color itself. As to the question in the OP, while it is difficult to know for sure, my own opinion is that bold patterns in animals that are mostly found in open country, like giraffes and zebras, are more likely to serve as interspecific social signals, or perhaps as “confusion patterns” for pursuing predators, than as camouflage. While in certain circumstances they can break up an animal’s shape, in my experience both zebras and giraffes can usually be seen very easily over great distances. This goes for giraffes even when they are standing in the midst of trees. Stripes and spots on stealth/ambush hunters like tigers and leopards, that are often concealed in dense cover, are more likely have a camouflage function. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/28 "2007-05-19T21:07:06Z")
[QUOTE=David Simmons] We do have blue animals. There is a[blue roan](http://k.webring.com/hub?ring=blueroanhorsebre) variety of horse. They are mottled blue and grayish white (or maybe it’s whitish gray). I’ve seen milk cows that are bluish and sometimes almost lavender. Cattle also have lavender eyes sometimes. [/QUOTE] That is really cool - I had no idea that they existed. Any pictures of these purple cows? Apparently my google-fu is weak. ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/29 "2007-05-19T21:29:06Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] WWI era battleships had similar camouflage. I forget the name for it now. “Dazzle”? In any event, it’s well-known in the animal kingdom, and not all camouflage is designed in an attempt to blend with the surroundings. Some make no attempt to pretend not to be there, but will try to make a lethal strike difficult. [/QUOTE] Dazzle camouflage or Razzle Dazzle – [Dazzle camouflage - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage) ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/30 "2007-05-20T02:48:42Z")
[QUOTE=Risha] That is really cool - I had no idea that they existed. Any pictures of these purple cows? Apparently my google-fu is weak. [/QUOTE] No, it was one of my uncles who had it a loooong time ago. I’ve included some dope on [Belgian Blues](http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/belgianblue/index.htm). It could have been one of these. [Picture.](http://www.belgiumview.com/belgiumview/toonmaxi.php4?pictoshow=0001417aa&taal=3&volgnummer=%20237&voterid=&viewid=0001417) Of course such colors are man-made, so to speak, and probably wouldn’t occur in wild cattle. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/31 "2007-05-20T03:46:45Z")
[QUOTE=David Simmons] Of course such colors are man-made, so to speak, and probably wouldn’t occur in wild cattle. [/QUOTE] Not that different from a [Blue Duiker](http://www.quantum-conservation.org/ESB/CEPHALOPHUS%20MONTICOLA.gif), though, a small African antelope. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/32 "2007-05-20T12:58:03Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] Not that different from a [Blue Duiker](http://www.quantum-conservation.org/ESB/CEPHALOPHUS%20MONTICOLA.gif), though, a small African antelope. [/QUOTE] As I was saying, such colors occur occasionaly in the wild. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/33 "2007-05-20T13:31:27Z")
My MiL has one of [these:](http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/3/3/3/2/6/4/webimg/48606174_tp.jpg) She firmly belives it came from a purple cow. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/34 "2007-05-20T15:16:25Z")
Oooh. Just thought of a possible exception to the rule – how about the bright rump/face displays of, say, a mandrill? They’re [as blue as blue](http://www.mammalogy.org/mil_images/images/mid/1204.jpg) can be. On further googling, I found an abstract refering to “coherently scattering dermal collagen arrays” – so I guess it isn’t _impossible_ to do that color scattering trick with skin, it’s just mostly animals haven’t gone that way. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/35 "2007-05-20T15:46:26Z")
Isn’t there a breed of dogs with very blue hair? ---
**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:** [May 20, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/36 "2007-05-20T18:27:55Z")
[QUOTE=StarvingButStrong] Oooh. Just thought of a possible exception to the rule – how about the bright rump/face displays of, say, a mandrill? They’re [as blue as blue](http://www.mammalogy.org/mil_images/images/mid/1204.jpg) can be. On further googling, I found an abstract refering to “coherently scattering dermal collagen arrays” – so I guess it isn’t _impossible_ to do that color scattering trick with skin, it’s just mostly animals haven’t gone that way. [/QUOTE] Plenty of birds and a few mammals like the mandrill have bright blue facial skin (or sometimes elsewhere, as in [Vervet Monkeys](http://rosswarner.com/Vervet2.jpg) , in which males have a red penis and a blue scrotum). It’s just that mammals are mostly covered with hair, which may not be as easy to modify to produce structural colors as feathers or bare skin. [QUOTE=Sapo] Isn’t there a breed of dogs with very blue hair? [/QUOTE] You may be thinking of the [Blue Tick Hound.](http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images4/BlueTickTree.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/37 "2007-05-20T20:56:52Z")
And we mustn’t forget chow dogs with their blue tongues. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/38 "2007-05-20T21:01:55Z")
[QUOTE=David Simmons] And we mustn’t forget chow dogs with their blue tongues. [/QUOTE] Which brings us full circle back to [giraffes](http://photoblog.hu/images/20060909.jpg)… ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2007, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/39 "2007-05-21T09:17:20Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Isn’t there a breed of dogs with very blue hair? [/QUOTE] There’s also the [Kerry Blue](http://www.kennels.co.uk/Terrier/Kerry%20Blue.html) though they’re only blue from a certain angle in a certain light. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2007, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670/40 "2007-05-21T12:19:25Z")
Posts 34-39 have those animals that make me think “blue” must have been applied to them back in Ye Olde Days when we didn’t have to many color words, and this guy -\> 🆒 would be called “red”. Blue dogs, cats, rats and tongues aren’t blue, they’re _grey_. I’ll grant the horse did have a bit of a blue cast, but I don’t trust photos - they’re too easy to color “correct” to a bluer hue if the developer so desires. The primate privates, I’ll give you. Those are, indeed, a heck of a blue color! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-fifteen-feet-tall-and-eat-trees-why-the-camouflage/404670.md?page=3)