Veil Deception Camouflage – Animal Vision

 Animals are not deep thinkers – they rely on instinct. If their defensive instincts are not activated by what they see, they will look past you. So what do they see…? We have focused on the two main categories, Ungulate Vision (Deer) and Waterfowl Vision.

Ungulate Vision

Ungulates have panoramic vision and see everything in 2D as flat masses of colour. Except in the area in front of the animal where the vision crosses, giving the animal a narrow window of depth perception or binocular vision. Their vision is slightly blurrier than ours, impairing their ability to see explicit detail as they have 20/40 vision compared to normal human vision of 20/20. They cannot see tones in the red colour spectrum, leaving ANIMAL VISION to see the world in shades of yellow, blue and grey. They also have an enhanced ability to see Ultraviolet light, which is enhanced at dawn and dusk.

As you can see from the comparison below, with Human vision on the left and Ungulate vision on the right. We have used a blue cap (on the above two images) and a blaze orange cap (on the below two photos) to highlight the ability of an Ungulate to clearly distinguish and envisage the colours yellow, blue and grey but not red. The image on the right is a bit blurry as Ungulate vision lacks the clarity that humans possess, due to the disadvantage of having panoramic vision coupled with the structure the Ungulate’s eye.

Waterfowl Vision

Waterfowl have a panoramic field of vision with a full colour spectrum. However, they have low contrast sensitivity – an inability to see “edges” very clearly, and have relatively poor depth perception.

Now we know what animal sees, how do we conceal ourselves and deceive them? We highlighted three fundamental systems that will help form the ultimate camo, they are; Macro patterns, Micro patterns and Isoluminance.

Macro patterns

A macro pattern uses large areas of contrasting colours, with the intention of breaking up your silhouette so you’re not distinguishable as a person. An example of a predator that utilizes ‘macro’ camouflage is the Tiger’s stripes. These large vertical stripes break up the silhouette of the tiger, and help it blend into tall grass and scrub.

Micro patterns

A micro pattern is much finer than a macro pattern, often with a lot less contrast, in an effort to have you blend into the background – it creates noise to confuse your prey. The Leopard’s speckled pattern is a perfect example of a successful Micro pattern – A Leopard lying on the ground will simply blend in, indistinguishable from their surroundings.

Isoluminance (High Contrast)

When you are far away from your target with little depth and contrast, your silhouette blends into one blob of colour, making you obvious to your target. Using patterns with a high contrast prevents this ‘blob’ effect, and allows your outline to be broken up and diffused into the environment.

Through this investigation into the science of animal vision, it has changed the way we approach concealment. Revealing that there is so much more to creating the ultimate camouflage than using images and colours found in the environment.  By using three fundamental systems that have been proven to work through years of evolution within nature, we have created the ultimate camo, Veil Deception Camouflage.

To see our Previous Post on what we have planned for Veil and what we want to achieve, check out ‘Veil Deception Camouflage – Our Vision’ here: http://blog.hunterselement.co.nz/our-vision/