Camouflage in the natural world has always left me a tad awe-struck. As a child, I don't think I ever cracked a "Where's Waldo" book. Instead, I spent many afternoons with my face pushed up against the glass of the Harvard Natural History Museum playing "Where's the Stick Insect." From ash brown moths that steal the day away in the forest canopy to pasty white toads that hide among granite stones to tent moth caterpillars that seem to disappear against the cracked bark of looming oak trees, I came to realize that a whole myriad of different species were masters in the art of deception.

It's not just subtle patterns and morphological oddities that allow some species to fly under the radar either-- behavioral mimicry also plays a large role in the survival skills of these copy cats.

In a world where animals march across both the forest and ocean floor, cloaked in disguise, where do I even begin with my top favorites for the masquerade ball?

Well, to me, nothing quite says mimicry like the Central American snake caterpillar -- Hemeroplanes triptolemus. Under pressure, this caterpillar will begin to inflate its head, causing diamond shaped patterns to blossom across its green skin, giving it the appearance of a snake eyeing it's prey. If that's not convincing enough, these little guys will pretend to lunge and strike if threatened, which, for birds looking for a quick snack, is usually enough to deter them.

Photo credit: D. H. Janzen & W. Hallwachs

While some species of caterpillars aim to scare away unwanted attention, other's find peace by quietly fading into the scenery, like the Common Baron:

Photo credit: Wohin Auswandern

This caterpillar, which thrives in India and Southeast Asia, presses its body against the midvein of the mango leaves that it consumes, leaving it virtually indistinguishable from the vegetation. This leads to a lot of hungry birds (and a few unhappy mango farmers).

But it's not just the larva of Lepidoptera that get to have all the fun! Branching out into the rest of the animal kingdom, we have the spider-tailed horned viper:

Photo credit: Omid Mozaffari

This snake's uniquely ornamented tail has been liked to spiders, scorpions, and even centipedes, which is bad news for the local birds that hunt these insects. This snake will dance and flick its tail to give the appearance of a scuttling bug, which lures birds in close enough for it to strike.

While that's just a snapshot of a few land animals that would rock your socks off at a costume party, let's not forget all of the creatures under the sea that excel in the art of deception.

Many Cephalopods -- like octopuses and cuttlefish -- have the ability to camouflage like a chameleon on the ocean floor through. These creatures have a specialized cells called chromatophores, located just below the surface of their skin and contain a little sac of pigment. When the Cephalopod needs to blend in, or alternatively wants to surprise their prey, they put pressure on a subset of these cells, which causes the sacs of pigment to expand and make the pigments more prominent. In coordinating cells with different pigments, they can change their color or pattern in the blink of an eye.

But in a world of masquerading Cephalopods, nothing holds a candle up to the mimic octopus. Described as the "pinnacle of wizardry" by biologist Mark Norman, this octopus not only changes it's coloration, but also completely alters it's behavior:

Flounder, Lion Fish, Sea Snake, Jellyfish, you name it, they can mimic it.

To wrap up this marathon of mimicry, we have the delightful pygmy seahorses.

Photo credit: Florent Charpin

Species that fit into this classification live among corals, algae, and seagrasses and are usually tiny -- measuring in at less than 2 centimeters! Their small stature and perfect camouflage into their distinctive habitats allow them to go virtually unnoticed by predators and scientists. Six species have been discovered since 2000, but marine scientists believe that there are many more out there, tucked away in the corals.

If you have a personal favorite camouflaging creature that I missed in this post, add a comment below and I'll be sure to include it in in the Masters of Mimicry pt 2.