CRAPOUFLAGE

Once upon a life time ago, in a far-off land, I had a research lab.  It was a magical room filled with an orderly collection of sample jars, microscopes, books, and a plaque that said, “If we knew what we were doing it wouldn’t be research ~ A. Einstein”.  I shared this work space with a magical scientist who had more stuff than me and his things would creep into my clean, orderly magical space.  Then one day a colleague told me to cover my workspace with my own clutter.  It made it appear that I was working diligently on important things that could not be encroached upon.  The creeping ceased.  This phenomena, of claiming a workspace by covering it with clutter/crap became known as “crapouflage”.  Now, my magical work space was safe from encroachment…no drama needed.

I’m not the only one that uses crapouflage.  Hemisphaerota cyanea is a lovely, bright blue beetle that feeds on palmetto leaves.  Larvae hide from predators by covering themselves with their own feces.  They even pupate in these “fecal shelters”.  That is some serious crapouflage.