Are there any predators without camouflage?

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Solution 1

Poison dart frogs have aposematic colouration, making them the exact opposite of camoflaged.

They are also predators, since they feed on ants, termites and beetles.

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Solution 2

What is a predator?

As discussed in the comments by @MarchHo and @AMR, there is discrepancy between the definition of predation in the biology literature and in the every day use.

Population definition

From the Oxford dictionary

predation- The preying of one animal on others; the behaviour of a predator (predator n. 2); (also occas.) an instance of this

Under this common definition, the answer is "Yes".

Scientific definition

From wikipedia (who uses the scientific definition)

In ecosystem predation is a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is hunting) feeds on its prey (the organism that is attacked)

Under this scientific definition, predators describe whichever organism that feed on other organism. There exist no animals that do not predate (Elysia chlorotica is a quasi exception). So, the question boils down to "Are there any animals that are not well camouflaged?" and the answer is always "Yes".

Examples

The Lilac-breasted roller (just to name a nice colorful species) is very poorly camouflaged and feeds on various insects

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Zebras do not camouflage (for predation purpose) when they predate grass (grazing).

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Anteater do not camouflage (for predation purpose) when they predate ants

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The Mandarinfish is also poorly camouflaged and predates on harpacticoid copepods, polychaete worms, small gastropods, gammaridean amphipods, fish eggs and ostracods.

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As @AMR suggested in the comments, humans are poorly camouflaged too.

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Updated on January 18, 2020

Comments

  • DigitalRookie
    DigitalRookie almost 4 years

    Are there any predators that don't use camouflage?

    • AMR
      AMR almost 8 years
      If your question is related to "natural" camouflage, i.e. camouflage that is the result of genetic programming, then Humans would be a good example of predators that do not posses natural camouflage.
    • AMR
      AMR almost 8 years
      Raptors are also good examples. Eagles and hawks, are not really camouflaged, although their ability to be able to stalk their prey at altitude may make them unseen to their prey, unless they are hunting other birds such as pigeons.
    • rg255
      rg255 almost 8 years
      Birds of prey, chimpanzees, bats... there's a lot of things that don't appear to use camouflage - but it's difficult to really say definitely, e.g. I imagine a neon pink chimp would be less successful at hunting than the dark furred chimps we see in nature, so one could argue that chimps are camouflaged... Most predators will benefit from avoiding detection for as long as possible, this could constitute colouration camouflage, but also behaviours to reduce detection (e.g. stalking slowly through bushes). Wikipedia say camouflage is "the use of any combination of materials, colouration..." ...
    • rg255
      rg255 almost 8 years
      Could you therefore clarify/refine your question, perhaps ask for examples where colouration appears to make no effect on hunting success. E.g. that could be evidenced by studies showing no relationship between the colour variation in a population and the success of hunting.
    • fileunderwater
      fileunderwater almost 8 years
      As the answers show, the answer is definitely 'yes', but without a definition of 'camouflage' I think this should be closed as opition-based. What effectively counts as 'camouflage' depends on the the perception of the interacting species (prey) - so a species can be camouflaged against one species but not another one - and it can include multiple types of colouration or behaviours.
  • March Ho
    March Ho almost 8 years
    Not sure if this answer is intended in jest, but zebras are disruptively camoflaged
  • Remi.b
    Remi.b almost 8 years
    They do not camouflage for predation purpose at least. One could draw millions of other examples of this kind of course.
  • WYSIWYG
    WYSIWYG almost 8 years
    I like your answer +1, especially for defining predation (which also applied for microscopic organisms).
  • WYSIWYG
    WYSIWYG almost 8 years
    @MarchHo Zebras are camouflaged against their predators but not as themselves being predators. That is a different issue that plants don't have vision.
  • AMR
    AMR almost 8 years
    And you added birds and humans after I had commented on it. It is generally customary to attribute that.
  • March Ho
    March Ho almost 8 years
    @AMR I also thought at first that predators implied carnivores, but it is also used in the context of herbivores by scientists. I agree on the issue of attribution, though.
  • Remi.b
    Remi.b almost 8 years
    As @MarchHo said, predation have different meaning in the scientific literature than it its everyday use. I will add a word about that.
  • Remi.b
    Remi.b almost 8 years
    @AMR I added the bird and human example mostly in reaction to MarchHo 's answer. I also wanted a colourful species and I wanted to state the obvious. Took me a while to see where you commented on it. I am not sure who said it first though, we both said it 15 hours ago. I don't cite hawk an eagles so I'll have a hard time to give you credit for that but I will be happy to give you credit for thinking about humans first and I will edit my post.