Everyone must have heard about a creature named "chameleon", which keeps changing its color. Also, through idioms and similes, you can often hear people questioning someone's loyalty and behavior by saying that he changes his color like a chameleon. Basically, it is a Hindi idiom that is pronounced as "गिरगिट की तरह रंग बदलना". But why, when, and how chameleons change their color, you may not be aware of it. There might be two reasons responsible for this, one is natural, and the other scientific.
If a natural cause is observed, the chameleon changes its color to protect itself. To protect itself from predators, the chameleon adapts its color to the same color where it is sitting, so that the predator does not know that there is a chameleon around. If we talk about scientific reason, chameleons change their color to convey their different emotions like their anger, aggression and sending signals among each other. The male chameleon also changes its color to attract the female partner. Sometimes they also change color to maintain their body temperature, so that they can escape from heat and cold.
Read:-Does the Red Color Really Make the Bull Angry?
How do chameleons change their color?
Mainly, there are several different kinds of layers in its skin. Its outermost layer is transparent and below it, there are some other layers, which contain pigments called chromatophores, which contain light-reflecting cells. The chromatophores at each level are filled with sacs of different kinds of pigment, named xanthophores, erythrophores, iridophores, and melanophores. The melanophores are found in the deepest layer and Iridophores are found in the layer above this. Similarly, xanthophores and erythrophores are found in the uppermost layers. Because of these chromatophores, the chameleon changes color according to its need.
Chameleons change their color by changing or rearranging the lattice of nanocrystals present in the upper layer of the skin cells. These cells are of small crystals which are made of guanine. With the help of the pigments present in the skin, the chameleon wears different colors according to its needs.
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