The panda's white body helps it hide in snowy areas. The arms and legs are black, helping it hide in forests. The markings on its head are not used to hide, but to communicate. Black ears can act as a warning to enemies.

Depending on the species, black skunks (臭鼬) may wear white spots that act as covering or white stripes that signal enemies to be aware of their smelly spray, which causes no real harm to its victims, but it sure makes them uncomfortable.

Zebras' thin coats make them more vulnerable than long-haired animals to biting flies that carry disease, but the coats' stripes prevent flies from landing on them, for reasons that scientists are still studying. Further, their attractiveness to flies increases with stripe width. No two zebras' stripes are exactly the same.