Biologists have long been fascinated by the amazing diversity of animal colour patterns. Despite much interest, the underlying evolutionary and developmental mechanisms contributing to their rich ...

Colour patterns (e.g. irregular, spotted or barred forms) are widespread in the animal kingdom, yet their potential role as signals of quality has been mostly neglected. However, a review of the ...

Patterns on animal skin, such as zebra stripes and poison frog colour patches, serve various biological functions, including temperature regulation, camouflage and warning signals. The colours making ...

The zebrafish, a small fresh water fish, owes its name to a striking pattern of blue stripes alternating with golden stripes. Three major pigment cell types, black cells, reflective silvery cells, and ...

Nature’s full of illusionists, and they’re not all hiding in plain sight by accident. Across the animal kingdom, creatures have evolved remarkable ways to stay alive by blending in, standing out, or ...

The complex, geometric colour patterns of many animal bodies have important roles in behaviour and ecology. The generation of certain patterns has been the subject of considerable theoretical ...

What happens if you cross a fish that has white spots on a black body with another fish that has black spots on a white body? You might think that you’d get a fish with a single uniform colour, or one ...