Meet the Many Insects That Insist on Being Sticks and Leaves

[Narrator] If you're confused

about what you're looking at, good, it's working.

Looking like a stick or a leaf

is way more common than you think.

And it's a marvelous demonstration of the power

of natural selection.

This leaf mantis not only looks the part, but behaves it.

Those jerky motions make it look like a leaf

flapping in the wind.

Mantises are of course ferocious predators,

so they need to hide both from their enemies and their prey.

Then we have the famous stick insects.

They too make use of

the 'I've had a few too many' technique.

Woah there.

When that doesn't work, some species

unfurl brightly colored wings to startle their predators.

Still others excrete foul-tasting chemicals.

So what gives with all these insects

looking like leaves and sticks?

It's natural selection, baby.

No two organisms are exactly alike.

Some insects look more like sticks than their siblings.

Predators pick off those with crummy disguises.

But good costumes mean better chances of survival.

Small variations add up over evolutionary time,

resulting in some pretty astounding camouflage.

Well, maybe it isn't exactly foolproof.

You okay little buddy?

No, alright, we're gonna say goodbye now.