Deceive and Perceive

One type of animal camouflage is known as cryptic coloration. The colors of the animal mimic its habitat to fool the eye of predators or prey. Matching patterns of dark and light in order to blend in with the natural play of shadows, lines and textures in the environment is a highly effective strategy. Predator and prey have co-evolved in their abilities to perceive and deceive one another.

This young black rat snake Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta was coiled on the back of a wrought iron chair in the gazebo of our rented house in Great Cacapon WV this past weekend. My daughter entered to set the table for our evening meal and had quite a surprise. The snake makes a nice addition to the floral design, don't you think? However, my son-in-law removed the snake before we sat down to eat. I would imagine humans' ability to see snakes despite their attempt to camouflage themselves would be an important evolutionary advantage!

A childhood experience that made a big impression on me was the late summer evening when my father asked who wanted to accompany him on the short drive down to our small pumphouse. My younger sister and brother eagerly jumped up to go with him, but uncharacteristically for me, I hung back, preferring to stay on the porch with my mother. When my father returned he had a story for us. While my siblings had fumbled at opening the heavy car door, my father started toward the pumphouse. Directly in front of him were two stumpy mottled sticks lying across the path. Just before stepping on them, he realized what they were--a pair of copperhead snakes out for their evening hunt, or perhaps mating, but now attempting to camouflage themselves in the waning light. My father pointed out in a serious tone that if I had joined them on the errand, I may have jumped out more quickly than my siblings and encountered the snakes before he did. I believe this was the first time I grasped the meaning of the word "fate."

I don't remember if my father killed those particular snakes, but we frequently encountered copperheads, black snakes, and tiny ringneck snakes when I was growing up in Maryland. Sometimes the poisonous copperheads and even the larger of the nonvenomous black snakes (often 5 or 6 feet long) were slain if they encroached near our mountainside home. Mostly they seemed to stay in the nether region of overgrown briars and poison ivy between the driveway and the public road.

Our German Shepherd "Rinnie" would kill a snake by repeatedly grasping it in his mouth,violently shaking it from side to side, then flinging it away through the air.. He seemed able to avoid its jaws by this method. One time however, he was bitten on his paw by a copperhead. I remember pleading with my father to take him to the veterinarian as Rinnie began to show the effects of the venom. I rode along to the doctor's office in the back seat of our car with the dog's head cradled in my lap. Rinnie survived to hunt copperheads another day.

Despite the presence of these creatures, my siblings and I ran freely around the meadows and woods of our country property. For a while my older sister kept a milk snake in what I remember as a tall finely crafted wooden case with glass windows and a hinged door that latched with a metal clasp.

The local folk lore said that black snakes were a good thing to have around your house-they kept copperheads away. I don't know if this true. I do know they make pleasant pets, except for the problem of feeding them live prey. It would have been nostalgic to have caught the little rat snake for the enjoyment and study of my 4 year old grandson (and my own), if only I still had that beautiful wooden case. I do prefer to leave wild things wild and study them in their natural habitat.

The other photo is a Fowler's Toad Bufo fowleri seen at Eidolon Nature Preserve. It blended in perfectly with the leaf litter. My eye and camera snagged it only because it moved and disrupted the camouflage pattern. B. fowleri uses its earth toned skin to elude predators such as birds and small mammals. Like other toads, it can also release a foul liquid from the 'warts' on its back to irritate a predator's mouth. Another survival tactic it might use is to play opossum-it will lie belly up as if dead.

The genius of crytic coloration is the cuttlefish, a relative of the squid and octopus. It has special cells in its body that can change in color, pattern and texture almost instantly to mimic the variety of surfaces it encounters on the sea floor, allowing it to merge seamlessly with its surroundings. It has a very complex brain in order to control the up to 20 million cells that produce these optical illusions.