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Pandas Hide in Plain Sight

Giant pandas have black and white fur that scientists have discovered helps camouflage them from predators in their natural forest habitat. Their black patches blend into dark tree trunks and shadows, while their white fur matches pale stones, bright leaves, and snow. Their contrasting colors also disrupt their outline, making it difficult for predators to distinguish the shape of a panda. With less sharp eyesight than humans, pandas' predators would have an even harder time spotting them. Their fur camouflage helps the slow-moving pandas survive despite being large and vulnerable to attacks.

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128 views3 pages

Pandas Hide in Plain Sight

Giant pandas have black and white fur that scientists have discovered helps camouflage them from predators in their natural forest habitat. Their black patches blend into dark tree trunks and shadows, while their white fur matches pale stones, bright leaves, and snow. Their contrasting colors also disrupt their outline, making it difficult for predators to distinguish the shape of a panda. With less sharp eyesight than humans, pandas' predators would have an even harder time spotting them. Their fur camouflage helps the slow-moving pandas survive despite being large and vulnerable to attacks.

Uploaded by

Infinity Beyond
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Hiding in plain sight: Giant pandas' fur can

baffle forest predators


By The Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 01.09.22
Word Count 740
Level 990L

Scientists have discovered that a panda’s black-and-white fur may actually help disguise it from the animals that want to eat it. Photo:
NHPA/Photoshot/Science Source Photo: NHPA/Photoshot/ Science Source

Giant pandas are large animals that live in China. Even though pandas are so large, they are still at
risk from predators, which are animals that eat other animals for food.

People easily recognize pandas because of their large patches of black and white fur. In the wild,
these standout colors could mean that predators such as leopards, tigers, and wild dogs might
easily spot them. And if they can see the pandas, predators might attack them. Surprisingly,
scientists have discovered that this is not always the case. A panda's black-and-white fur may
actually help disguise it from the animals that want to eat it.

"In its natural environment, that kind of coloration doesn't actually stand out that much," said
Ossi Nokelainen. He's a scientist at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland who led the new

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.


research.

Blending In

Animals use camouflage to blend into their environment. In this way, predators who want to eat
them can't see them as easily. Most of the time, animals camouflage themselves by having an
appearance that resembles their background, Nokelainen said. For example, many desert mice are
sandy colored to match their sand environment. A mountain hare's fur turns white in winter to
match the snow around it.

Nokelainen and other scientists studied photos of giant pandas taken in the mountain forests of
China. These mountain forests are the panda's habitat. This is the area, or natural environment, in
which it lives. The scientists discovered that the panda's black patches blend into the dark tree
trunks and shadows in the forest. But the forest has a lot of bright areas, too, said Nokelainen.
There are very pale grey stones, bright leaves, and maybe there is snow in winter. The giant
panda's white areas blend in with those light areas. Scientists had a difficult time spotting the
pandas in the forest photos.

Giant pandas also use a second form of camouflage called disruptive coloration. This happens
when contrasting patterns on an animal break up the outline of its body. This means that, instead
of seeing the shape of a giant panda, a predator may get confused by the many different dark and
light areas. A predator might find the shape of a panda confusing, especially from a distance. It
might look like a clump of rocks, leaves, or tree trunks instead.

In addition, the eyesight of wild cats and dogs isn't as sharp as a human's. Perhaps they are great
at seeing movement, but the details may look blurry. So if humans have a hard time spotting
pandas in the wild, a panda's predators would have an even tougher time. Because of this, "giant
pandas might have even better camouflage to their natural predators," Nokelainen said.

Lots Of Black And White

Some other animals use black and white for camouflage, too, including the orca, or killer whale.
But orcas use their camouflage to hide from the animals they want to eat. When seen from above,
an orca's black back is tricky to see against dark waters. When seen from below, its white belly
seems to merge with a bright sky. This helps orcas sneak close to the fish and seals it catches for
food.

A zebra's stripes might also help it blend into the


background in dim light and stay safer from predators
such as lions. But that is not the stripes' only
advantage. Instead, it seems that they help repel
biting flies. These insects don't like stripes, although
scientists aren't sure why.

A skunk, on the other hand, doesn't use its loud black-


and-white pattern to hide. It uses its colors to warn
away predators: Try to eat me and you'll get sprayed!
Skunks and other eye-catching animals use their
colors as warnings to other animals. A monarch butterfly has striking orange, black, and white

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.


markings. Those colors tell predators that it is bad to eat. Monarch butterflies are poisonous. A
wasp's yellow-and-black markings warn other animals that it will sting them if attacked.

The giant panda, however, doesn't have this kind of protection. The animals don't have a stinky
spray or a stinger. But the panda's camouflage still helps protect it from its enemies.

The giant panda is a rather slow animal, so I think it's good for the pandas that they can hide in
plain sight, Nokelainen said. His research suggests that they can.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

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