Chameleons are distinctive and highly specialized class of lizards. It may be eerie to some to look at them, but their features are very distinctive. They have stereoscopic eyes which means they have a binocular vision making them capable of spotting a small insect from a distance of 5-10 m. They can move their eyes independently which allows them to focus on two objects at the same time and thus have a 360 degree arc of vision around their body.
Chameleons have tongues longer than the length of their body. With their special muscles they accelerate their tongue toward their prey in no time. The most amazing fact about chameleons is their ability to change their body colour according to their surrounding. Different chameleon species are able to change different colours like pink, blue, red, orange, green, black, brown, light blue, yellow, turquoise and purple.
Chameleons have specialized cells called chromatophores each having different colouring pigment. These cells are found in three layers of their skin. These three layers of their skin are like paint stores. Upon the order from the brain, these chromatography rapidly select the amount of each pigment (special cell) on the skin and also controls the amount of light getting reflected from its body.This is how they change their colour.
The colour which appears on the skin is a result of the mixture of the colour pigments from the layers of the skin. When the same pigment is equally distributed, the whole cell is intensively coloured. The pigments with their colours are listed below.
Chameleons have tongues longer than the length of their body. With their special muscles they accelerate their tongue toward their prey in no time. The most amazing fact about chameleons is their ability to change their body colour according to their surrounding. Different chameleon species are able to change different colours like pink, blue, red, orange, green, black, brown, light blue, yellow, turquoise and purple.
Chameleons have specialized cells called chromatophores each having different colouring pigment. These cells are found in three layers of their skin. These three layers of their skin are like paint stores. Upon the order from the brain, these chromatography rapidly select the amount of each pigment (special cell) on the skin and also controls the amount of light getting reflected from its body.This is how they change their colour.
The colour which appears on the skin is a result of the mixture of the colour pigments from the layers of the skin. When the same pigment is equally distributed, the whole cell is intensively coloured. The pigments with their colours are listed below.
- The cells in the upper layer contain xanthophores and erythrophores which contain yellow and red pigments respectively.
- The cells in the second layer of cells are iridophores and guanophores which contain guanine which gives blue or white appearance.
- The deepest layer of cells are melanophores containing the dark pigment, controlling the amount of light the body reflects.
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