Chameleons Color Changing Secre

Do you ever wish you could blend into the background? Be overlooked and unseen? Chameleons are famous for their quick color changing abilities; these lizards are able to generate marvelous patterns and blends that tend to match their surroundings. However, it is a common misconception that chameleons camouflage themselves in efforts to avoid predation. According to this article, chameleons primary motivation to change color is based on infraspecific communication and temperature regulation.

Chameleons are cold blooded reptiles, and therefore cannot generate their own body heat. As reptiles, chameleons depend on the sun and their external environment in order to maintain a steady internal body temperature. Studies have found that changing the color of their skin is a method to help regulate a steady body temperature. When body temperatures are low, a chameleon is likely to become dark to absorb more heat in order to raise it body temperature. In contrast, when body temperatures are high, a chameleon will alter its skin color to more lighter color in efforts to reflect the sun's heat.

Chameleons will aslo utilize their color changing abilities in efforts to communicate between one another. Body language and posture are often the first element of communication for chameleons. However, according to this secondary article, changing their skin color gives off certain desired messages. Territorial interactions usually display the brightest color possible (blues, reds, yellows). When a female encounters a male, a female is likely to adopt receptive or non-receptive coloration patterns in order to indicate her reproductive state to the male.  When a female is receptive to mating, she is most likely to display lighter colors. In contrast, when a female chameleon is not receptive to mating, she will adopt dark colors with negative body movements in order to deliver her communicated message.

So how are chameleons able to pull off all these color changes? What's the science behind it all? The outermost layer of a chameleon's skin is transparent. Beneath the outermost layer, there are several more layers of skin that contain specialized cells called chromatophores. Chromatophores at each level within the skin are filled with sacs of different pigments. Within each layer of skin the chameleon has different specialized cells (melanin-brown, iridophores-blue, xanthopohores and erythrophores-yellow and red pigments) that all contain a distinct, specialized color pigments. When a chameleon experiences changes in body temperature or mood, its nervous system tells specific chromatophores to expand or contract enabling them to produce a whole variety of colors and patterns.

-Eise Babula (10).