A wildlife friendly backyard provides homeowners with the opportunity to study wildlife without having to leave home.  For example, our yards give us the opportunity to watch predators trying to capture prey as well as the techniques prey animals employ to avoid becoming a meal for a predator.  With that in mind, have you ever wondered which method works the best?

       In an effort to answer the age-old question, Joao Vitor de Alcantara Viana and his colleagues at Brazil’s State University of Campinas reviewed all of the scientific studies published between 1900 and 2022 that dealt with at least one concealment technique.

       After perusing all of reports, they found that predators spend almost 60 percent more time finding camouflaged prey than prey that is not camouflaged.  The researchers went on the say prey that mimic leaves, sticks and the like are less likely to be eaten by predators than those critters that simply blend into the background.