Animals Hide
Vocabulary
Read the vocabulary terms to understand the reading better.
Adaptation
An adaptation is something that helps an animal survive including changes in looks or behaviour.
Camouflage
To camouflage means to blend in with your surroundings.
Herd
A herd is a large group of animals.
Mimicry
Mimicry means using colour and patterns to look like an animal that is dangerous.
Poisonous
Something is poisonous when it causes harm when it enters the body or touches the skin.

Some animals blend in with their surroundings. This adaptation is called camouflage. Animals use camouflage to hide from other animals. Here are some ways that animals use camouflage.
Colour

Some animals are the same colour as their surroundings. A snowy owl is white and lives where it snows. It blends in with the snow.
Pattern


Some animals have stripes, spots, or other patterns on their skin. The spots on a leopard help it hide in tall grasses. The stripes on a zebra make it difficult to see one zebra in a herd.
Mimicry


Some animals look like something else. A walking stick is an insect that looks like a twig. The leaf katydid is an insect that looks like a leaf.
Some animals use colour and patterns to look like an animal that is dangerous. This is called mimicry.


This Viceroy butterfly looks like a Monarch butterfly. The Monarch butterfly is poisonous. Animals leave both butterflies alone!
To learn more about how animals hide, watch the video by SciShow Kids on YouTube.
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