Camouflage

According to Google the etymology of this word is as such:
First World War: from French, from camoufler ‘to disguise’ (originally thieves' slang), from Italian camuffare ‘disguise, deceive’, perhaps by association with French camouflet ‘whiff of smoke in the face’.

This story from the Guardian on new camouflage studies gives a basic introduction on how we can use camouflage studies for other purposes, whether for safety or disguise.

Another article, this one from the New York Times, chronicles a very interesting ancillary topic--translucence and "mirroring" in animals. And there's a little bioluminescence in there to boot!

And here's a great video of blanching, or the act of a normally transparent animal making themselves opaque: http://nyti.ms/1pjCUm3

Museum of Copulatory Organs

See more HERE

A Pride of Peacocks

We have all, I think, been fascinated at one point or another with the naming of animal groupings, if only briefly. I like to think that there were a bunch of British men on a committee somewhere smoking pipes and pontificating on the subject, like the committee on French vocabulary. It's probably not that far from the truth.

The first relatively comprehensive list of names was from the Book of St. Albans, which was actually a sort of hunting manual/book of general zoological interest from the 15th century, and was attributed to a woman who likely just made a compendium of things invented by aristocrats of the day.

Favorites:

A SEETHING of eels.

A FLAMBOYANCE of flamingoes.

An IMPLAUSIBILITY of gnus.

A BLOAT of hippopotami.

A LOVELINESS of ladybirds.

A PARLIAMENT of owls.

A DAZZLE of zebras.