Animals do not say "ready or not, here I come!" I just wanted to make a funny title. It does seem like animals are playing hide-and-seek but it is much more serious than that: they are trying to avoid being eaten by predators. For example, a deer camouflages with the background of its forest and field habitat to try to avoid being eaten by wolves, coyotes, or bears.
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| Shhh! This deer is camouflaged. |
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| Shhh! The lion is stalking! |
Animals camouflage their babies because they are vulnerable to predators and animals hide from humans because they think we are predators to their young or to them. Predators camouflage too. They hide to try to ambush their prey, like a lion blends in with the grass of the savanna. We shouldn't disrupt their camouflage: then we would be letting the predators know that their prey is there and letting the prey know the predators are there, that would be disrupting nature.
Sometimes I look for the owl that is hooting high up in a tree. I can tell just which tree in the park that the owl is in but actually sighting him is difficult, as he is kind of nestled in a crag of the tree and completely blends in. Nature is so smart!
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