Description
Book SynopsisColor can attract mates, intimidate enemies, and distract predators. But it can also conceal animals from detection. It is an adaptation to the visual features of the environment but also to the perceptual and cognitive capabilities of other organisms. Judy Diamond and Alan Bond reveal factors at work in the evolution of concealing coloration.
Trade ReviewDiamond and Bond do an excellent job of discussing the evolutionary mechanisms and processes in a simple yet powerful way that should be accessible to nonexperts. They make the subject come alive by telling us not just what we know about camouflage today, but also where the field has come from, and equally importantly the work that has been done to get us here. -- Martin Stevens * Animal Behaviour *
If you want to read a scientific thriller then this is your book. Do not expect that, like Hercule Poirot’s cases, you will have a final answer on the last page. You may finish the book with more questions than when you started. That is the fun! This book opens your mind so you will never ‘see’ the world the same way again. -- Roy John * Canadian Field-Naturalist *
Reading this book stimulated me to think about aspects of my own work in new ways and I would recommend it to all those interested in animal coloration. There is no book that I am aware of that competes with this one… One aspect of this book that distinguishes it from others is the focus on, and insight into, the role of predator cognition in the evolution of concealing coloration. Alan Bond has no equal in this field. -- Devi Stuart-Fox * Copeia *
It is a beautifully written exploration of the extraordinary variety of ways in which animals can make life difficult for the visual systems of their predators and prey in order to gain advantage in a natural world red in tooth and claw… Evolution is interwoven throughout the book. -- Graeme D. Ruxton * Current Biology *
I wish that many school, college, and university teachers read this book because it gives a very appealing collection of exciting stories of true scientific process and progress… Diamond and Bond show how hidden creatures made evolution recognizable. -- Johanna Mappes * Ecology *
The authors have read, and are on top of, an immense amount of literature, making a student of coloration like myself envious… I am delighted that I have this volume on coloration in my collection. -- Tim Caro * Quarterly Review of Biology *
Combining a naturalist’s eye with scientific rigor, the authors report on modern experiments on the mechanisms of the selective process that support these observations. * Kirkus Reviews *
This book is a lovely survey, for the general public, of all that is known about concealing coloration, and very nicely weaves the history of the subjects with the facts. -- John A. Endler, Professor of Sensory Ecology and Evolution, Deakin University, Australia
