Find Out About Animal Camouflage

Discover some of the brilliant ways animals disguise themselves in this engaging introduction for young children from a conservation biologist.

Some animals hide in the sand, like the desert lizard, whose scales can resemble pebbles and stones. Others hide in the sea, like the peacock flounder, who can also change color. And some, like poison dart frogs and the scarlet king snake, don’t try to hide at all! Most animals have developed clever tricks to survive, but not all excel at camouflage the way these animals do. From moths whose wings resemble dead leaves to eponymous stick insects, from a lizard that looks like a tree stump to the ghost pipefish you’d mistake for a coral reef, the range of colors, patterns, and techniques captured here demonstrates how animals across myriad environments can disguise themselves. Melding a simple narration with more detailed facts on a variety of creatures—including sandgrouses, gerbils, Arctic foxes, and butterflies—this fascinating picture book also offers a brief note on animal camouflage in the back matter.

Martin Jenkins is a conservation biologist and the award-winning author of many books for children, including The Emperor’s Egg, illustrated by Jane Chapman; A World of Plants, illustrated by James Brown; Under Threat: An Album of Endangered Animals, illustrated by Tom Frost; and the Find Out About . . . series, illustrated by Jane McGuinness. Martin Jenkins lives in Cambridge, England.

Jane McGuinness received an MA in children’s book illustration from the Cambridge School of Art in England. She is the author-illustrator of Prickly Hedgehogs!, which was her first picture book, and the illustrator for Martin Jenkins’s Find Out About . . . series. Jane McGuinness lives in England.