Artist Johannes Stoetter is world famous for using body paint to create amazing animal creations, turning human into chameleons and frogs.
He's so good he was the 2012 Bodypainting World Champion!
Freak us all out by disappearing into your surroundings. Post a pic and challenge others to find you. For inspiration check out stick insects, who do excellent impressions of errr ... sticks.
Read the instructions
See also
Go on a mish to spot camo’d animals in the wild at one of your local DOC sites!
What to do
Your mission is:
Disappear into a background using NZ nature-inspired disguise skills. Check out the notes for the tools list you need (above) and go get lost!
Instructions
1. SPOT A SPOT
Find a background to disappear into. It could be a park, the beach, or on a nature trail or a surface like a tree or lawn – any place you can magically merge with! Think like an animal or insect and think about how you might be able to blend in to help you hide.
Once you reckon you’ve got your background sussed, grab anything you need from the environment and then head home to whip up your disguise.
2. DISGUISE THE LIMIT
Time to sort your disguise out = whatever it takes to make you vanish!
Use coloured clothing, material, body paint, leaves, branches, mud, walnuts, manure* ...
*Really really think hard before deciding to use manure!
3. PREPARE TO DISAPPEAR
Blending in can be as simple as covering a limb in loose leaf litter or as complicated as changing your colour like a chameleon.
4. CAMO SHOW
Return to your spot with a few minutes to settle in, then stay still.
After an arranged time, get someone to come over and take a photo of you hiding in plain sight: if they can find you!
5. WHERE'S WALLY'S ARM?
Make sure you ARE actually there, as opposed to just pretending to be a camouflage master by not turning up …
No harm in trying the pull the wool over the Wild Eyes' judges eyes though!
6. CHALLENGE THE JUDGES!
If the only eyes you can see are wild eyes then that's OK!
Upload your camo-tastic photo to the Wild Eyes judgment panel to earn points towards your next level!
LEVEL UP
See how many friends you can manage to hide in one place, take a photo and post your own ‘Where’s Wally’ photo.
How many people can you see here?
TOP TIPS
1. It can take a lot of body paint to paint a body, so could keep it simple and focus on an arm, hand, face or leg.
2. If you’re too hard to find, start farting. (That way your seekers can use their sense of smell instead of sight to find you.)
What's happening?
AOTEAROA CAMO EXPERTS
– Camopo kākāpō! (c)Colin Miskelly NZ Birds Online
All animals and plants have specific adaptations that help them survive in the place they live (e.g. a kiwi has nostrils at the end of its beak for sniffing out grubs from the soil). Camouflage is like an animals’ built-in disguise kit.
For example, the night parrot kākāpō has mossy green feathers that are the same colour as the mossy green bush,
As Kermie the kākāpō says: "it ain't easy to be seen when you're green!".
Secret sticks
There’s a good chance your garden is full of life that you’ve never seen!
Don’t feel bad, there’s a good reason for it: animals that are easy to find quickly become a predator’s next meal. Stick insects’ main predators are birds that hunt by sight, so they camouflage themselves by looking and behaving like… sticks!
And who wants to eat a stick? Nobody!! (Well, maybe dogs...)
EGG HUNT
– Spot the wrybill eggs!
We’ve got some birds here in Aotearoa who have set the bar pretty high for hiding. See if you can find the wrybill egg in the picture. Hard eh?
The camouflage is a sweet defence against airborne predators like kahu (hawks) and karearea (falcon), but unfortunately it’s not so great against introduced predators who hunt on the ground like rats, stoats, cats and dogs (and motorbikes...).
AOTEAROA CAMO EXPERTS #2
– Heard but not seen: you learn fast grasshopper!
WHO SEES WHO?
Camouflage works for both sides in the battle for survival. Prey animals use it to avoid getting eaten, while at the same time predators use it to keep from being seen by prey until it's too late. Which makes you wonder if most of the time nobody sees anything?! Check out this gallery of dodgy creatures and see if you can you spot nature's best blenders.
Inspiration
BECOME A CHAMELEON
SOMEBODY I USED TO SEE
NZ singer-guitarist Kimbra and her singing partner Gotye got inspired by camouflage in this choice-as music video.
THE INVISIBLE MAN
Liu Bolin is a Chinese artist known for immersing himself in environments, earning him the nickname 'The Invisible Man.' Dutch Artist Desiree Palmen is so good at camo she might be called the 'Invisible Woman'. Can you beat their brilliant blending?
– Hiding in plain supermarket sight
EYES IN THE SKY
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– Kahukura scary eyes
Some animals try reverse psychology to trick other animals into thinking that they're tougher than they are (like the mouse tricking the Gruffalo!).
The kahukura (red admiral) butterfly's wings aren't just for looking pretty. Lepidopterists (aka butterfly scientists) reckon that they have evolved spots that look like like eyes to scare off predators, who are buzzed out by the dancing monster with many eyes!
Kind of like nature's version of the pūkana (wide eyes) in the haka!
TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Get inspired by this body-painting 'best of' and see if you can make yourself into a melon and match them (maybe ask your mum or dad before shaving your hair off though!).
