obliterative coloration

English

Alternative forms

• obliterative colouration

Etymology

Coined by American artist Gerald Handerson Thayer

Noun

obliterative coloration (uncountable)

1. The coloration of an animal that makes it blend into the background; camouflage.
   • 1909, Gerald Handerson Thayer, Concealing-coloration in the Animal Kingdom, page 147:

     We have here, as far as these patterns go, a complete inversion of the regular obliterative coloration.

   • 2005, Timothy M. Caro, Antipredator Defenses in Birds and Mammals, page 60:

     The problem with the topic of obliterative coloration is that it is very well accepted despite there being so few empirical tests of the phenomenon.

   • 2011, Matthew Brower, Developing Animals: Wildlife and Early American Photography, page 230:

     Obliterative coloration aims to make animals invisible, while mimicry is deceptive visibility aiming to make the animal appear as something else.