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In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an animal or a plant [1] to avoid observation or detection by other animals. It may be a predation strategy or an antipredator adaptation . Methods include camouflage , nocturnality , subterranean lifestyle and mimicry .
Tonic immobility occurs after the predator has detected and or made contact with the prey, and is likely used to prevent further attack by the predator or consumption of the prey. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Because tonic immobility occurs later in the predator attack sequence, it is considered a secondary defense mechanism and is therefore distinct from freezing.
A wide range of animals, e.g. lizards, birds, rodents, and sharks, behave as if dead as an anti-predator adaptation, as predators usually take only live prey. [ 15 ] In beetles, artificial selection experiments have shown that there is heritable variation for length of death-feigning.
Changes in prey detection by predators do occur, but the speed in which they occur and the flexibility of a predator's search image depend on the environment. If the frequency of the different prey types continuously changes, the predator may not be able to change its behavior at a rate that will provide an advantage. [ 13 ]
Anti-predator adaptation in action: the kitefin shark (a–c) and the Atlantic wreckfish (d–f) attempt to prey on hagfishes. First, the predators approach their potential prey. Predators bite or try to swallow the hagfishes, but the hagfishes have already projected jets of slime (arrows) into the predators' mouths.
Leafy sea dragon avoids recognition by predators, with alga-like coloration, protuberances and behaviour. Underwater camouflage is the set of methods of achieving crypsis—avoidance of observation—that allows otherwise visible aquatic organisms to remain unnoticed by other organisms such as predators or prey.
Predators need not locate their host directly: Kestrels, for instance, are able to detect the faeces and urine of their prey (which reflect ultraviolet), allowing them to identify areas where there are large numbers of voles, for example. This adaptation is essential in prey detection, as voles are quick to hide from such predators.
When an insect looks like an inedible or inconsequential object in the environment that is of no interest to a predator, such as leaves and twigs, it is said to display mimesis, a form of crypsis. Insects may also take on different types of camouflage , another type of crypsis.