From a young age, children are fascinated by hide-and-seek games. These visual acuity games strengthen observational skills while increasing a competitive spirit to find a fellow playmate or a hidden object in an image. Unknowingly, children are using ecological and evolutionary principles of camouflage, mimicry, and adaptation when playing these classic games.
The website Sensory Ecology & Evolution (https://www.sensoryecology.com/games), curated by the Centre for Ecology & Conservation at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, utilizes citizen science games to develop new tools to study visual observations in reference to organism coloration in a variety of realistic habitats. Human “predators” participate in computer experiments to contribute to an understanding of camouflage, disruptive coloration, and distractive markings. The center’s research also focuses on laboratory and field data with the aim of understanding animal vision, with applications to ecology, evolution, and animal behavior. Organisms, ranging from beetles to moths...
University of California Press