Here’s the copperhead from today’s earlier “spot the. . .” picture. Not that easy, was it?
Photograph by Jerry Davis | Outline by @SssnakeySci
Here’s the copperhead snake!
May 3, 2017 • 1:15 pm
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Thanks very much. This is a tremendous demonstration of the effectiveness of camouflage. It is enough to keep me out of the woods…
“…enough to keep me out of the woods…” My first thought too.
Remarkable. Obvious once outlined.
Obvious? Even with the blue outline I think it’s still quite tricky to see.
Yes, decidedly so. How the heck did the photographer ever see it?
Though I have noted that, with mottled backgrounds, ordinary stereo vision can easily separate detail which, when photographed, is remarkably hard to see. A typical example is narrow overgrown tracks in the ‘bush’ which are obvious to the naked eye but almost disappear into the background in a photo.
The eye is remarkably good at recognising patterns and detecting movement so the snake may have been much easier to see in real life than the photo.
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I *still* can’t see it.
Look for his hourglass markings.
Ah yes, now I see it. Ta.
He’d or she’d have me dead.
Shame on the “spot the…” setter! It’s exactly in the middle of the picture – against da [unwritten] roolz
Yeah, that fact made it easy for me.
wow easy to step on that !!
As an Aussie Ex-pat, I don’t find this at all surprising, snakes are good at camoflage, disturbingly so.
The trick is often walking heavily so that they can feel the vibrations of your approach and think of you as too big to be prey. Far from flawless, but helpful.