Question

Camouflage is a kind of adaptation in which an organism deceives others by merging its colour with that of its surroundings. Now tell me what kind of colour will best suit a Himalayan rabbit in the snowy mountains to hide itself from a polar bear?
A. Red
B. Blue
C. White
D. Black

Answer 1

Hint:-There are four types of camouflage observed in animals. Concealing Colouration, where animals hide against a background of the same colour in order to protect themselves from predators and also for hunting their prey. Disruptive Colouration where the dark spots or stripes found on the animal’s skin are mainly used to camouflage themselves and to escape from their predators. Disguise where the change in their appearance or colour which gets the blend with their surroundings by their colour, texture and shape. Mimicry by which most of the animals copycat or mimic other animals to fool and escape from their predators. The mimicry can either be in appearance or behaviour or sound or odour.

Complete answer:-
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects difficult to see or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the striped coat of leopard, a typical soldier's battledress, and the wings of the leaf-mimic katydid. Motion dazzle, a third approach, confuses the observer with a conspicuous pattern, making the object visible but momentarily more difficult to locate. Most camouflage strategies strive for crypsis, often by a general background similarity, high contrast disruptive coloration, shadow removal and countershading. The primary camouflage techniques in the open ocean, where there is no background are transparency, silvering and countershading, while the ability to create light is used for counter-illumination on the undersides of cephalopods such as squids, among other things.
Since the Himalayas are snowy mountains, a white coloured Himalayan rabbit should also be ideally adapted so that it can quickly hide in the white snowy mountains and thereby, further protect itself from its enemies and predators.

The correct answer is Option C.

Note:- Few species found in North American environments, such as the snowshoe hare, change their body colour to hide from their prey-lynx. These species are normally white during winter, and by losing their hair, their fur shifts to brown during summer. To cover and to reflect their mood, chameleons alter their colour. Octopus changes both colour and skin texture.