Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s previous World of Wonder columns for The Butter can be found here.
Here in Western New York, August means mosquitoes. It also means corn, means mosquitoes, means blueberries, means humidity, and means mosquitoes. Mostly mosquitoes. Seriously! I just counted five while having a coffee on my deck at 7:30 in the morning. What I wouldn’t give to have a little potoo bird (or three) in my backyard to catch those blood-thirsty beasties!
Image via Wiki
Alas, the potoo (POT-too) only resides in central and south America, where they gobble up said mosquitoes and termites. Fully grown potoos are a little over a foot tall, and their traffic-light eyes make them look like they are seeing something horrifying. (You might have also recognized the potoo as the star of its very own “weird stuff I do” meme.)
It’s very easy to see why the potoo has been called “little more than a flying mouth and eyes,” but potoos are pretty much masters of disguise in the humid jungles of the southern hemisphere. So confident are they in their camouflaging skills that they just sleep right out in open daylight (they are nocturnal). They can close their giant eyes and freeze and position their cryptic feathers to resemble a broken tree branch, so even the sharpest eye can just barely figure out what is tree and what is bird:
Image via Wiki
The potoo is one of the few birds that never builds a nest—males and females share baby-raising duties, each taking turns warming their single white egg with purple spots in a divot of a tree branch. When the baby potoo is born its feathers are pure white, and when it gets too large to safely hide under a parent, it learns how to freeze just so to resemble a patch of white mushrooms.
And so, Dear Readers—are there moments when you too would like to be cryptic? What animal’s camoflauging skills would YOU most like to have? Let me know below (bonus points for including a pic!).
Tags: aimee nezhukumatathil, potoo, the butter, world of wonder
whaaaat cuttlefiiiiiiiish
those weird motherfuckers can look like anything they want
And they do so fabulously.
seriously! cuttlefish camo would be my camouflage of choice for sure!
They can, but my personal favorite is the FLAMBOYANT CUTTLEFISH (which I think that picture might be?) because they don’t blend in with shit. “Why can’t the world blend in with me?” that’s what they’d like to know.
If I had a coat of arms, it would for sure have a Flamboyant Cuttlefish on it.
(also, necessary link is necessary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDwOi7HpHtQ).
YESSSSSSS IT’S TRUE
God, I love the potoo. It looks so inconspicuous when it’s all sleepy and camouflaged, and then it opens its eyes/mouth and it’s just FACE.
Too funny–I know! I couldn’t find a fair-use pic with it’s giant frogmouth open to include in this post, but was hoping people take the time and check out the links and/or google the potoo! You really need to see this birdee’s mouth, lol! 🙂
POTOOOOOOOOO!!
It is my favorite bird. Because it is actually a Muppet.
My favorite camouflage is the Dynastor darius darius, which in its chrysalis stage looks identical to the head of a snake:
It even wiggles around when it senses danger, to make the illusion more convincing!
no that’s cool i didn’t need to sleep tonight
*tiny screams*
It so is a Muppet! Why have I never realized this before?
oh my stars, that’s terrifying!
I fucking love the potoo. I can’t believe it actually exists.
I just really like saying POTOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I would like to join the venerable brotherhood of insects that look like poo: https://featuredcreature.com/looking-like-bird-po…
I have loved potoos ever since I first read about them in a book of weird animals when I was little!