Martian Lake Cow: Camouflauge

As I was working on my knitting this afternoon, I got very caught up in the rhythm, and didn't want to stop even long enough to turn on the lights. I was working with the daylight streaming through the window, and even as it waned, I simply didn't notice an increase in difficulty, so I just kept stitching away, concentrating my best on each stitch on the needle. (Has anyone else had the experience of knitting lace stitches in black yarn?)

Some time passes, and my husband comes into the room. "Honey.. why are you knitting in the dark?" he asks as he flips on a light switch.

The question confuses me for a moment. I look up at him, squinting into the can-lights behind his head. (blinkblinkblink?) Then I look down at my knitting again. Nope. Still can't see the stitches.

The phenomenon intrigued me, so I did some research.

One scientist claims that this is another breed characteristic of the Martian Lake Cow--a trait of camouflauge it apparently developed for survival. Objects can be percieved in many ways, he says, but they are seen by the light that bounces off of them. Martian Lake Cow fiber is apparently better than average at maximally absorbing light, thereby lending it a similitude of invisibility. This protects the stubborn Lake Cow from predators while they stand beside their dusty mud-puddles throughout the dry season.

Another scientist disagrees. He blames the light-absorbing trait on the planet's thin atmosphere and the ancient depths of the Martian lakes. He claims that the trait was necessary to absorb the warmth and life-sustaining light of the sun while the lake cows swam deep into the lakes to avoid predators and to forage for food at the lake bottoms.

Either way, it may help explain how the fiber batt could sit unnoticed beside the dog's bowl for the better half of a year.