Australian stick insects disguise themselves to break into an ants\u2019 nest.<\/p>\n
Glasswing butterflies go with the see-through look.<\/p>\n
First up, decorator crabs keep up with all the tidepool trends to stay out of sight.<\/p>\n
Time for a crab fashion show.Models!\u2028\u2028This one is wearing the latest in purple seaweed.<\/p>\n
Over here, a striking piece of kelp.<\/p>\n
And for this guy \u2026 that\u2019s a lotta look! But these crabs aren\u2019t dressing up to get noticed. They\u2019re trying to blend in.<\/p>\n
These decorator crabs live in the tide pools and rocky shores off the California coast.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a dangerous place for a tasty crab.<\/p>\n
So the crabs camouflage with what\u2019s at hand.<\/p>\n
This kelp crab has found something to work with.<\/p>\n
It does a little trimming, cutting a piece to size \u2026 nudges it into place.<\/p>\n
And it sticks, thanks to rows of natural Velcro on its head.<\/p>\n
The crabs have these special hooked hairs on their shell.<\/p>\n
See how this bit of seaweed is wedged right in there, held tight?<\/p>\n
With a tug, the crab makes sure of that.<\/p>\n
The seaweed is hiding its antennae.<\/p>\n
If they weren\u2019t covered, their fluttering would give the crab away.<\/p>\n
And sometimes one piece of flair just isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n
Meet the extreme decorator crab, the ultimate fashionista.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s covered in hooks all over its body.<\/p>\n
A quick check and the crab can tell its face is unprotected.<\/p>\n
Get to work!<\/p>\n
This crab is a picky dresser.<\/p>\n
It nibbles on a piece of algae, trying to figure out, is this good to eat?<\/p>\n
Or is it covered in noxious chemicals that make it better suited as an outfit?<\/p>\n
This crab has made it work.<\/p>\n
And it has the ultimate off-putting accessory, an anemone: outerwear that actually stings.<\/p>\n
Over time, the anemones and seaweed can grow and spread on the crab\u2019s shell.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a lot to lug around. But it\u2019s worth it. Being fabulous just might save your life.<\/p>\n
The Australian walking stick is a master of deception, but a twig is just one of its many disguises.<\/p>\n
Our story begins with a seed, an ant, and a leaf. Or does it?<\/p>\n
Each one of these is a phase in the life of the same creature.<\/p>\n
The Australian walking stick.<\/p>\n
Deep in the forests of eastern Australia, a seed drops from the canopy above.<\/p>\n
Foraging ants carry it down to their underground burrow.<\/p>\n
They snack on the nutritious cap, leaving the rest intact.<\/p>\n
But this \u201cseed\u201d is a knock-off.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s actually an Australian walking stick insect\u2019s egg.<\/p>\n
Here it is next to a real seed the ants also brought into the nest.<\/p>\n
The delicious part of this real seed is called the \u201celaiosome,\u201d and the same part on the egg is called the \u201ccapitulum.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an evolutionary strategy to get that egg underground.<\/p>\n
Why? Ant nests are just the right humidity for the developing egg, and are well-protected from parasites and predators.<\/p>\n
Several months later, the egg hatches underground, and a stick insect nymph emerges from the nest.<\/p>\n
It runs, looking for safety in the foliage above.<\/p>\n
It has taken on a new disguise: as a red-headed spider ant.<\/p>\n
Not only does it look a lot like the ant \u2013 it also moves like one.<\/p>\n
And even strikes a pose like the ant, curling its abdomen.<\/p>\n
Looking and acting like an ant may save this nymph\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Predators tend to steer clear of ants.<\/p>\n
Ants swarm \u2013 sometimes they bite and sting \u2013 and most worker ants aren\u2019t all that nutritious.<\/p>\n
On top of that, red-headed spider ants taste like rotten coconut or bad cheese.<\/p>\n
These birds take a hard pass.<\/p>\n
Upon closer inspection, the disguise doesn\u2019t really hold up. But hey \u2013 it gets the job done.<\/p>\n
And it doesn\u2019t need to last long.<\/p>\n
The red on the Australian walking stick\u2019s head fades in just a few days.<\/p>\n
So the nymph races upwards, into the trees.<\/p>\n
After about a month, the insect begins to change yet again.<\/p>\n
It will molt six times as it perfects its final costume, as it grows into an adult.<\/p>\n
That frenetic ant energy gives way to a gentle swaying \u2013 like a leaf in the breeze.<\/p>\n
Nothing to see here, predators.<\/p>\n
The insects graze all day, mostly on eucalyptus leaves, plumping up and growing as long as your palm.<\/p>\n
Adults vary in color. Some even take on the green ruffled shape of a lichen.<\/p>\n
You might think it\u2019d be hard to find each other with all this camouflage, but they communicate with pheromones, so no problem.<\/p>\n
Sometime after mating, the female lays her eggs, and the cycle begins again.<\/p>\n
The fake seed and pretend ant phases are more than just protection from parasites and predators.<\/p>\n
Since adult Australian walking stick insects don\u2019t actually walk much, they rely on seed-collecting ants to disperse their eggs throughout the forest.<\/p>\n
Then it\u2019s up to their zippy, ant-impersonating offspring to help them spread out even further.<\/p>\n
The Australian walking stick insect has evolved so many looks, it almost seems like it\u2019s having an identity crisis.<\/p>\n
But just because you can shapeshift from one form to another \u2013 and another \u2013 doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t know exactly what you are.<\/p>\n
These tiny ocean creatures sport vibrant colors to pull off a masterful vanishing act.<\/p>\n
This is a Pygmy seahorse. These are some of the smallest seahorses in the world\u2013 smaller than a paperclip.<\/p>\n
Camouflage is critical to their survival. It\u2019s how they hide from predators.<\/p>\n
These seahorses are too small and fragile to make it on their own.
So unless they find a place they fit in perfectly, they\u2019ll die.<\/p>\n
So the pygmy seahorses spend their entire adult lives on a type of coral called a sea fan.<\/p>\n
Orange pygmy seahorses live on orange sea fans.<\/p>\n
Purple sea horses live on purple sea fans.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the mystery: Do they search for a coral that matches their color?<\/p>\n
Or do they change their color to match the coral?<\/p>\n
To explore that question you have to watch the process unfold. And no one had ever done that.<\/p>\n
Until this year.<\/p>\n
Biologists went to the Philippines and collected a mating pair of orange pygmy seahorses from a sea fan 80 feet below the surface.<\/p>\n
They rushed them back to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
And there, for the first time in an aquarium\u2026 The pygmy seahorses survived.<\/p>\n
The scientists watched the male and female seahorses performing their daily courtship dance.<\/p>\n
They saw baby seahorses pop out of their father\u2019s brood pouch.<\/p>\n
The babies all started out a dull brown color.<\/p>\n
So scientists wanted to know what would happen if they provided a purple sea fan to the offspring of orange sea horses.<\/p>\n
They got their answer: The babies turned purple.<\/p>\n
They grew calcified bumps \u2013 called tubercles \u2013 to match the coral\u2019s texture.<\/p>\n
And there they stayed.<\/p>\n
We humans tend to think of who we are as mostly fixed.<\/p>\n
But in the ocean, identity can be a fluid and mysterious thing.<\/p>\n
Next, Glasswing butterflies trick the light to hide in plain sight.<\/p>\n
Ever wished you could be invisible?<\/p>\n
Fade into the background.<\/p>\n
Unnoticed.<\/p>\n
Unseen.<\/p>\n
For glasswing butterflies, the rainforests of South and Central America are full of hungry predators they\u2019d like to hide from.<\/p>\n
Some butterflies use cryptic camouflage to hide themselves by blending in with their surroundings.<\/p>\n
Others use aposematism \u2014 vivid colors and patterns that warn predators they\u2019re toxic.<\/p>\n
Glasswings do have some warning markings. See that bright slash of white on black?<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s not their main defense.<\/p>\n
Their transparent wings enable them to disappear into the background wherever they go.<\/p>\n
Even while flying.<\/p>\n
This little caterpillar is a baby glasswing and it\u2019s already good at staying out of sight.<\/p>\n
You can see through parts of its exoskeleton \u2026 offering a window into its most recent leafy meal.<\/p>\n
That exoskeleton is made of a material called chitin that\u2019s both strong and flexible.<\/p>\n
In most insects, chitin is mixed up with pigments that give it color.<\/p>\n
But some parts of the glasswing lack pigment entirely.<\/p>\n
Once it\u2019s had its fill, the caterpillar suspends itself under a leaf or stem.<\/p>\n
It becomes a chrysalis.<\/p>\n
Inside, it\u2019s undergoing a metamorphosis.<\/p>\n
About a week later, the transformation is complete.<\/p>\n
An adult butterfly emerges.<\/p>\n
It unfurls its delicate, new wings, revealing its window panes for the first time.<\/p>\n
At the Nipam Patel Lab at UC Berkeley, researcher Aaron Pomerantz is studying how exactly the glasswing butterfly forms those transparent wings.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re made of that same clear chitin from when it was a caterpillar.<\/p>\n
But in these wings, the chitin\u2019s all stretched out \u2014 incredibly thin and stiff.<\/p>\n
And that layer of chitin is exposed.<\/p>\n
Other butterfly wings are covered in colorful overlapping scales that protect their wings from the elements.<\/p>\n
The glasswing does have colored scales \u2026 on its body and the fragile edges of its wings.<\/p>\n
But the scales on these window panes don\u2019t look like scales at all, more like tiny hairs.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re skinny and spread out \u2014 they let the light pass by.<\/p>\n
But having clear wings doesn\u2019t help you hide if they\u2019re shiny.<\/p>\n
Zoom way in, past the hairs, and you\u2019ll see the surface looks rough.
It\u2019s covered in miniature towers made of wax.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re called nanopillars.<\/p>\n
If the surface of the wing was smooth, light would bounce off of it.
The nanopillars are nature\u2019s original anti-glare coating.<\/p>\n
Researchers found that when they used chemicals to remove the nanopillars, the wings glimmered more.<\/p>\n
While some other butterflies gleam in the sunlight, the glasswing reflects almost no light at all.<\/p>\n
Glasswings excel at being dull.<\/p>\n
And that helps them hide in plain sight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian stick insects disguise themselves to break into an ants\u2019 nest. Glasswing butterflies go with the see-through look.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-255390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}