The animal manages to control the movement of pigments that give colors to its skin cells. Like other animals (frogs, octopuses, squids, various insects and other lizards), the chameleon has the ability to imitate the color of the environment in order to blend in with it. This camouflage feature has several functions and varies according to the animal and the environment in which it lives. In the case of the chameleon, changing color can be a hunting or defense strategy. By assuming the color of the place where it is found – for example, that of the foliage, the branch or the trunk of a tree – the chameleon tries to camouflage itself in order to capture insects with its long tongue or to escape from its predators, such as snakes, birds of prey. or small cats. “Depending on the species of chameleon, the colors it can assume vary greatly, such as shades of green, pink, blue, yellow, red, brown and black”, says biologist Maria Aparecida Visconti, from the University of São Paulo (USP). You may be wondering: how does the chameleon, who is no Einstein, manage to always get the camouflage color right? It is actually an involuntary process. The chameleon’s brain receives the light that falls on the retina, compares this luminosity with the light reflected in the environment and releases hormones to the skin cells, causing them to assume the color of the environment in seconds (at most, in minutes). Thanks to this skill, the animal does not turn pink on brown foliage.
1. The chameleon changes color when it feels threatened by a predator or when it is hunting. The change is regulated by hormones produced by the pituitary gland, a gland at the base of the brain, and reach the skin cells through blood circulation.
2. The cells that give the animal its color are called chromatophores. Each chromatophore has pigments of a different color – a chameleon has chromatophores with pigments of different colors. In our example, the animal is changing from a brownish tone to a yellowish one.
3. In the brownish tone, the pigments of that color and its “relatives”, such as red, are spread throughout the area of its chromatophores. Pigments of different colors (such as gray and yellow), on the other hand, are grouped in the nuclei of their chromatophores, “disappearing” in the eyes of the predator
4. In the yellowish tone, the opposite occurs: the light colored pigments (yellow and gray) are scattered in the chromatophores, while the dark colored ones are concentrated. For those who see the chameleon in this situation, the color of the animal is a shade between brown and red.
Read too:
– How is an animal stuffed?
– What is dolphin training like?
– Do animals also commit suicide?