From Concealment to Communication: Integrating Camouflage into Animal Signaling Research

Abstract Camouflage is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature, yet most researchers in animal communication have overlooked it because it does not typically qualify as a signal. I argue against this prevailing view and show that at least one type of camouflage, masquerade , can be regarded as a signal. I then introduce two notions— information-transmitting signals and information-masking signals —and characterize them in such a way that typical signals fall into the former category and camouflage into the latter, drawing on an information-theoretic approach to animal signaling. Lastly, I compare information-masking signals with misinformation and deception.