Hosts of cuckoos have evolved defences allowing them to discriminate and reject parasite
eggs. Mechanisms of discrimination are mostly visually mediated, and have been studied …

Evolutionary hypotheses regarding the function of eggshell phenotypes, from solar
protection through mimicry, have implicitly assumed that eggshell appearance remains static …

Whether hiding from predators, or avoiding battlefield casualties, camouflage is widely
employed to prevent detection. Disruptive coloration is a seemingly well-known camouflage …

A crucial problem for most animals is how to deal with multiple types of predator, which differ
in their sensory capabilities and methods of prey detection. For animals capable of rapid …

Avian eggs differ so much in their colour and patterning from species to species that any
attempt to account for this diversity might initially seem doomed to failure. Here I present a …

Animal camouflage is a textbook example of natural selection. Despite substantial progress,
one historical theory remains controversial: that conspicuous “distractive” markings draw …

Understanding what maintains the broad spectrum of variation in animal phenotypes and
how this influences survival is a key question in biology. Frequency dependent selection …

Camouflage and warning coloration are usually viewed as alternative defensive strategies
at opposite ends of the conspicuousness continuum. However, camouflage is compromised …

Individual cuttlefish, octopus and squid have the versatile capability to use body patterns for
background matching and disruptive coloration. We define—qualitatively and quantitatively …

The color and patterning of animal eggs has important consequences for offspring survival.
There are examples of between-species and polymorphic differences in egg coloration in …