Why is a stick insect so hard to find?

Think of a walk past a leafy bush. Reach out, and you can feel its thin twigs brush your hand. Somewhere in a bush like that, a stick insect sits and rests.

You can look and look, and still you will not see it. So why is a stick insect so hard to find?

A stick insect has a long, thin body. Its legs are long and thin too. When it rests on a branch, it looks like one more twig.

Its body is brown or green. That is the same colour as the twigs and stems around it. So your eyes slide right over it.

Hiding by looking like the things around you has a name. It is called camouflage, which means a way of hiding by looking like what is close by. The stick insect's camouflage makes it look like a twig.

All day long, a stick insect keeps very still, the way a twig keeps still. If it walked about, you would spot it. Now the wind blows, and the twigs begin to sway. What do you think the stick insect does?

It sways too! It rocks gently back and forth, the same as the twigs around it. Even in the wind, its camouflage keeps it hidden.

This camouflage keeps the stick insect safe from hungry birds. A bird hunts for bugs to eat. It looks at the stick insect, sees only a twig, and flies on by.

Let's remember our word: camouflage. A stick insect is hard to find because its body looks just like a twig.

Sweet dreams, little twig spotter, and have fun looking closely at twigs tomorrow.