Eli5 How do animals and insects get so specific with their camouflage?

Question

Like dry leaves or shapes of animals. How do they know what to mimic??

In: 283

Answer 1

Accidentally and very slowly. The insects that look the most like an inedible leaf are the most likely to survive and reproduce.

Simultaneously, predators with the best eyesight who are therefore able to tell the difference between an insect and a leaf are more likely to find enough food to eat, survive and reproduce.

The insects must then look even more like a leaf in order to survive, and so on and so on