How does the chameleon change color and what does it depend on?

The Chameleon is a resident of hot Africa, which has gained fame due to the unique ability to change skin color. This small lizard, only 30 cm long, can transform, becoming black, pink, green, blue, red, yellow. Many scientists have carried out various studies to find out how the chameleon changes color, and what it is related to. It was assumed that he thus disguises himself under the background surrounding him. But this proved to be an incorrect assumption.

This lizard itself is unique. She looks like a dragon, often changes the color of her skin, sits for hours on the branches of trees, waiting for the victim, which captures a long tongue. Her eyes live a separate life, turning in different directions. Chameleon changes color due to special cells - chromatophores. His skin is transparent, so cells that contain a pigment of different colors are so clearly visible.

For a long time, researchers could not understand how the chameleon changes color, and why it happens. It was supposed that he needed it for disguise. After painting, for example, in green, a lizard can mask in the foliage, hiding from predators and waiting for its victims. After all, in the course of evolution, many chameleons have learned to acquire the color and pattern of their enemy - for example, birds or snakes.

Modern research has shown that the process of how a chameleon changes color is completely dependent on its state. The color of the skin varies from a change in mood - reactions such as fear or joy. This may depend even on the air temperature. In Africa, many chameleons get black in the morning to attract sunlight, but in the daytime they get light, so it's not so hot. Colored colors they use in marriage games, in order to attract a representative of the opposite.

Chromatophores in chameleons are located in deep layers of the skin and directly depend on the nervous system. The upper layer contains red and yellow pigment cells. Further, there is a crystalline guanine substance , which very accurately reproduces the blue color. Under it - melanophores, responsible for pigments of black and yellow colors and containing melanin. The way in which the pigment granules are located in the cell, completely affects the color. The chameleon is a very interesting animal. After all, the pigments in his cells move very quickly, changing the color. If they are concentrated in the center of the cell, it will remain transparent, and if evenly distributed along it, they will be painted in an intense color.

Nerve endings connect the chromatophores with the brain, from where the commands come to change. The way a chameleon changes color can be compared with a palette in which colors, mixing, create completely new shades. Due to its ability to change the color of the skin, this lizard has gained immense popularity. Today, fabrics, varnishes and other things, shimmering in different shades or changing them, are called chameleons.

Although it seems that changing the color, the lizard wants to disguise itself, it is not. She does not pay attention to the background. The color of the skin is affected by the mood, emotions experienced, the temperature of the air, but not the surrounding situation. Therefore, the opinion that when a chameleon appears on a chessboard, then black and white cells appear on it, at the root is wrong.