A camouflage material made from natural plant dyes can conceal objects in both visible light and ultraviolet, which could be useful for hunters trying to avoid being spotted by birds that can see in UV.
To make the material, at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, extracted dyes from a range of plant species, including Honduran mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), mango trees (Mangifera indica) and tea plants (Camellia sinensis), and used them to print a leafy design on cotton fabric.
Hossain tested the material鈥檚 camouflage abilities by placing it against a woodland background featuring the same plants, and through visual inspection found it worked in both visible and UV light.
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It is unclear if the dyes could have a military application. The US military has investigated UV sensing, including . It even published a list of approved washing powders for camouflage uniforms because some were said to contain optical brighteners that increased UV reflectivity, although subsequent research has .
at the University of Bristol, UK, says that military use would probably be limited, but given that birds can see UV light, it may be of more use to hunters than soldiers.
鈥淚鈥檝e never really seen the argument anywhere, from any military organisation, that we should match the background in terms of UV,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檝e never heard that anybody has a UV camera that鈥檚 looking for targets. Because, if you do that, you might as well use a thermal camera, it鈥檚 going to be easier to spot people and vehicles.鈥�
Scientific Reports
