Iridescence as Camouflage
February 22, 2020 11:29 AM   Subscribe

Iridescence seems like a straightforward tradeoff: Make yourself more attractive to potential mates, while putting yourself at greater risk of predation because you're more visible. It turns out, though, that iridescence can act as camouflage. Fake beetles with solid colours suffered more predation from birds than iridescent fake beetles, and humans found 80% of the solid-coloured beetles but only 17% of the iridescent beetles. Paper.

The theory of iridescence as camouflage was proposed over a century ago by painter Abbott Thayer, who argued that even the peacock's tail might act as camouflage, but the theory has only been rigorously tested recently.
posted by clawsoon (11 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Canadian and US navies experimented with using bright lights to camouflage ships and aircraft in World War 2, with some success, though advances in detection technology made it largely moot.
posted by rodlymight at 11:59 AM on February 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


Imagine if Gregor Samsa had turned into an iridescent beetle. What a life he could have lived.
posted by roger ackroyd at 12:31 PM on February 22, 2020 [10 favorites]


How this makes a lot of sense to me is when the viewing angle changes the colour of a surface, that can mess with your depth perception. If you focus on the specular highlight on a glossy surface, that looks further away than the surface itself. If a surface is a slightly different colour to each eye, it's not as easy to perceive it as the same surface to both eyes as it would be for a surface with a consistent colour. Especially if it's hidden on a tree where it could just as easily be a hole on a leaf.
posted by RobotHero at 12:31 PM on February 22, 2020 [2 favorites]


Yeah, this definitely seems to the kid of thing that makes sense *when it is pointed out* but is otherwise kind of non-obvious until that moment. Which makes it really great as a camouflage. Super interesting research, and it’s nice to see more advances on the testing/replication side of the hypothesis.
posted by Doleful Creature at 1:49 PM on February 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


How this makes a lot of sense to me is when the viewing angle changes the colour of a surface, that can mess with your depth perception.

They also talked about what it does to shape recognition. If you're a solid colour and you're shaped like a beetle, you look like a beetle shape. If you're iridescent, your apparent shape - what can be clearly made out based on light-vs-dark contrasts, anyway - keeps changing depending on the angle of view. Maybe you're just an irregular shadow on the forest floor created by light passing through the leaves as they move in the wind.
posted by clawsoon at 2:50 PM on February 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


Ok so when Lorac comes out with a highlighter that beats facial recognition HERE ARE MAH DOLLARS
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:05 PM on February 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


I'm serious. Foiled eyeshadow, bronzer, glow foundations...

All of this could be useful in a fight against surveillance.

Women...the work...again...
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:07 PM on February 22, 2020 [3 favorites]


Imagine if Gregor Samsa had turned into an iridescent beetle
this would make a marvelous rock opera, but alas that Bowie is gone
posted by Pastor of Muppets at 10:56 PM on February 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


Ok so when Lorac comes out with a highlighter that beats facial recognition HERE ARE MAH DOLLARS

Previously, previously, previously.
posted by tobascodagama at 6:21 AM on February 23, 2020


Looking forward to the next generation of iridescent military uniforms.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:48 AM on February 23, 2020


How the sea sapphire becomes iridescent or invisible in a flash – this ant-sized sea creature is dazzling, if you can keep it in sight., Mother Nature Network, Jaymi Heimbuch, March 4, 2016. More details and images of Sapphirina copepods at Science Magazine, Deep Sea News, and NOAA.

If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, then simply disappear.
posted by cenoxo at 5:05 PM on February 23, 2020 [5 favorites]


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