WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Chameleons

0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:06.600
<v Speaker 1>Hey, you welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh Clark,

0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:10.040
<v Speaker 1>and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there, and Jerry's

0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:14.440
<v Speaker 1>sitting in for our producer Dave C. Couston. And this

0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:16.759
<v Speaker 1>is short stuff. When you put all that info together,

0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.960
<v Speaker 1>you got a short stuff. Okay, that's right, let's go, Chuck.

0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.239
<v Speaker 1>It's about chameleons. Is that what we're doing? Yes, we

0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:27.000
<v Speaker 1>are doing one on chameleons, which I think was, um,

0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:31.479
<v Speaker 1>surprisingly fascinating because everything I know about chameleons I learned

0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:37.200
<v Speaker 1>from watching paint commercials. I love chameleons. Um, we don't

0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:41.440
<v Speaker 1>call them chameleons. We call them lizards when they when

0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:43.599
<v Speaker 1>we see them all over the place here in Georgia.

0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:48.440
<v Speaker 1>Wait a minute, they're chameleons up there. Yeah, I didn't

0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:50.479
<v Speaker 1>know that. What do you think all those lizards are?

0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.040
<v Speaker 1>I thought there were skinks? What's a skink? Is that

0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:57.120
<v Speaker 1>a blue tail? I don't know. Maybe there are skinks.

0:00:57.160 --> 0:00:59.200
<v Speaker 1>If a has a bluetail is a skink and they

0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:02.400
<v Speaker 1>are neural toxic. I've met somebody once who was like,

0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:04.920
<v Speaker 1>don't let your dog anywhere near those things. I knew

0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.840
<v Speaker 1>a cat once that had cross eye because it had

0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:12.560
<v Speaker 1>eaten too many of those lizards. But yeah, apparently they

0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:16.039
<v Speaker 1>have a neurotoxin. Uh. Well, now I'm looking up a

0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:21.400
<v Speaker 1>picture of a chameleon, and I think you are completely right.

0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.119
<v Speaker 1>This is not chameleons that we see here in Georgia.

0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.640
<v Speaker 1>They're skinks. They're skinks, but we call them lizzards anyway,

0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.319
<v Speaker 1>So I was still right. Yeah, you're still right. How

0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:33.200
<v Speaker 1>do you spell skink? I think just like it sounds

0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:37.000
<v Speaker 1>like you think, Well, these aren't exactly skinks, although we

0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.280
<v Speaker 1>do have skinks. What about gecko? A leopard gecko? It

0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:42.600
<v Speaker 1>could be one of them. Maybe. So I saw a

0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.040
<v Speaker 1>skink one time at the lake that was with tail

0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:51.800
<v Speaker 1>about a foot long. Oh oh my god. Well, now

0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:53.520
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what we see all over the place

0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:57.280
<v Speaker 1>in the woods and on our deck. It's probably geck goes. Okay,

0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:02.880
<v Speaker 1>I think I think if it's not a skink, alright,

0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:08.960
<v Speaker 1>we're talking chameleons. Yeah, okay, I got leopard geckos, if

0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:13.240
<v Speaker 1>I'm not mistaken. Mo loves chasing those things. Oh my god,

0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:15.560
<v Speaker 1>she loves chasing lizards. Are these the ones that puff

0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:20.040
<v Speaker 1>up their neck in a balloon? Yeah, they're great they're great.

0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.000
<v Speaker 1>Little lizards are fun. They'll drop their tail if you

0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:27.680
<v Speaker 1>get too close to them and they need to escape. Right, No, chuck,

0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:31.600
<v Speaker 1>that's absolutely wrong. But the first fact about chameleons is

0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.560
<v Speaker 1>they can't regrow their tail. If their tails ever pulled off,

0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:37.880
<v Speaker 1>it hurt and it's not coming back. That's they don't.

0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:42.240
<v Speaker 1>They don't release their tail like well, plenty of lizards

0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.800
<v Speaker 1>do that though, right, yeah, like a gecko. Yeah. Um,

0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:47.799
<v Speaker 1>but that's not what people think of when they think

0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.079
<v Speaker 1>of chameleons, that they can't regrow their tail. That's that's

0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.600
<v Speaker 1>pretty arcane. That's a deep cut as far as chameleon

0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.080
<v Speaker 1>facts are concerned. What most people think of when they

0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.080
<v Speaker 1>think of chameleons is that they can change color. And

0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:00.400
<v Speaker 1>everybody knows they can change color because they lend in

0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:05.760
<v Speaker 1>with their surroundings. Right, wrong, men, we're both just batting

0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:09.000
<v Speaker 1>zero right now. Yeah, we're busting some chameleon myths, and

0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.320
<v Speaker 1>that that is a myth that chameleons will be green

0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:14.440
<v Speaker 1>if they're next to a leaf, or they will be

0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:18.080
<v Speaker 1>brown if they are on your deck or your mulch Uh.

0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.080
<v Speaker 1>That is not true. That that may accidentally happen to

0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:23.919
<v Speaker 1>be true if you look and say, oh, look though

0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:26.040
<v Speaker 1>the same color as my deck. But it's not because

0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.239
<v Speaker 1>they're trying to blend in. They are trying to control

0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:32.520
<v Speaker 1>their body temperature and uh, but they do try to

0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:38.000
<v Speaker 1>blend into the green as their sort of natural state, right, Um,

0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.440
<v Speaker 1>But they're not doing anything in that point, Like you said,

0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.200
<v Speaker 1>it's their natural state, like they're just like it worked

0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:47.240
<v Speaker 1>out that way. Yeah, it just worked out perfectly, almost

0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.880
<v Speaker 1>like it was designed by the hand of God himself

0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:55.960
<v Speaker 1>or herself. If you watch dog, Um, but they're green.

0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:58.280
<v Speaker 1>Well we'll get to why they're green, because I thought

0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:00.720
<v Speaker 1>that was a pretty interesting thing. But when they're when

0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:05.480
<v Speaker 1>they're agitated, when they're excited, when they're happy to see you, um,

0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:08.920
<v Speaker 1>when they are scared, when they're trying to like scare

0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:13.800
<v Speaker 1>off somebody else, they're feeling emotional. And just like with humans,

0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.600
<v Speaker 1>when you feel emotional, there's all sorts of hormones churning, right. Well,

0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.080
<v Speaker 1>that's what happens with the chameleon too. When those hormones

0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.640
<v Speaker 1>get to churning, they start to change color. Um, and

0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.480
<v Speaker 1>they do it in in the same way that just

0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.680
<v Speaker 1>about every other thing that changes color in the world

0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.680
<v Speaker 1>every other animal changes color changes color. Um, but it's

0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:37.200
<v Speaker 1>slightly different in that the kind of structures that a

0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.760
<v Speaker 1>chameleon uses is much different than what we understood it

0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:45.200
<v Speaker 1>to be before. Yeah, I believe if I'm remembering correctly.

0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:49.080
<v Speaker 1>With our good old friend the octopus, they have chromatophores,

0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:55.839
<v Speaker 1>and with the chameleon they are ritophores. Yeah, so I

0:04:55.880 --> 0:05:01.000
<v Speaker 1>saw that. I also saw somewhere that a metaphors is

0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:05.000
<v Speaker 1>like the umbrella term for all the different kinds of

0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:09.760
<v Speaker 1>color changing cells, and that eritophores, like chameleons have, are

0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.960
<v Speaker 1>a specific kind. But that the big difference between like

0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.600
<v Speaker 1>an octopus and a chameleon as far as color changing goes, well,

0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:21.880
<v Speaker 1>there's two. One is that, um, the octopus is using

0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:27.200
<v Speaker 1>pigment filled sacks and then they're they're changing they're opening

0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:30.919
<v Speaker 1>or closing the muscles surrounding each sack to like show

0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:33.799
<v Speaker 1>or not show that color, and they have different colors

0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:38.080
<v Speaker 1>in their sacks. With a chameleon, they're actually using like

0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:43.919
<v Speaker 1>crystals that that they're called aritaphors because they're iridescent. Right. Yeah,

0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:46.240
<v Speaker 1>And you know what, that's a great cliffhanger, and we're

0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:48.760
<v Speaker 1>right in the middle. We are in the middle of

0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.760
<v Speaker 1>a cliffhanger, like I'm about to vomit. I've never been

0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:54.280
<v Speaker 1>in the middle of a cliffhanger before, and it's it's

0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:57.120
<v Speaker 1>a very uncomfortable place to be. It's kind of like,

0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.000
<v Speaker 1>hold on, I'm not done. When I was in maybe

0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.839
<v Speaker 1>second grade, I was on the bus and the bus

0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.560
<v Speaker 1>came to a red light and it came to a stop.

0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:08.560
<v Speaker 1>But have you ever been in a vehicle that never

0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.200
<v Speaker 1>fully came to a stop. It it wasn't moving forward

0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:15.960
<v Speaker 1>any longer. And there's like this incomplete feeling like something

0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:20.440
<v Speaker 1>is terribly wrong. Like that Twilight Zone episode where Darren

0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:22.880
<v Speaker 1>from which like flips a coin and it lands on

0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:25.360
<v Speaker 1>its side, and after that you can hear everybody thoughts.

0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.200
<v Speaker 1>The same thing happens when a bus doesn't fully stop

0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:30.400
<v Speaker 1>at a red light. That's what I feel like right

0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.000
<v Speaker 1>this moment, in the middle of the cliffhanger. I can

0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.839
<v Speaker 1>hear your thoughts and I want to throw up. We'll

0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:44.839
<v Speaker 1>be right back. Game that you should know that you

0:06:44.839 --> 0:07:02.640
<v Speaker 1>should know it knows. But Josh Clark, all right, everyone,

0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.480
<v Speaker 1>Josh just vomited. I had to turn off my my

0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.080
<v Speaker 1>computer camera. Thank you for the towel. So now I'm

0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.440
<v Speaker 1>only listening, but we left it the cliffhanger where you

0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.640
<v Speaker 1>were talking about the crystal like cells called a ritofors.

0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:20.880
<v Speaker 1>That what they do instead of um, squeezing pigment is

0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:26.000
<v Speaker 1>they work with actual light and color and light across

0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:30.200
<v Speaker 1>the entire color spectrum, even if human beings can't see it. Yes,

0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.800
<v Speaker 1>that's the huge that's the huge thing. Like if you

0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.280
<v Speaker 1>have a pigment stack, you can you can reflect the

0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:38.440
<v Speaker 1>color that that pigment reflects it, and so it's showing

0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:41.000
<v Speaker 1>blue or red or yellow or orange or something like that,

0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:45.800
<v Speaker 1>and a ritofor can reflect whatever color needs to be

0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.920
<v Speaker 1>reflected at that moment. And like you said, even once

0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:53.640
<v Speaker 1>that humans can't see impossible colors is what they're called amazing.

0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:57.520
<v Speaker 1>It really makes you wonder, like what dazzling displays chameleons

0:07:57.520 --> 0:07:59.520
<v Speaker 1>are putting on. We just can't even see it because

0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.760
<v Speaker 1>our eyes aren't it's not possible for our eyes to

0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.600
<v Speaker 1>pick up light on that that that part of the

0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:09.640
<v Speaker 1>visible spectrum or the non visible spectrum. Right. And there

0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:13.520
<v Speaker 1>are a lot of species of chameleon and depending on

0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:17.800
<v Speaker 1>the species, they have different kind of color changing capabilities. UM,

0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.559
<v Speaker 1>some are way more vibrant and bright. Some aren't quite

0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.840
<v Speaker 1>as vibrant and bright um. Some of them have a

0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.760
<v Speaker 1>lot of variants and the kind of colors, but it's

0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:30.239
<v Speaker 1>a general thing where they can basically use any color

0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.760
<v Speaker 1>on the spectrum, like it's all open. All those those

0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.280
<v Speaker 1>wavelengths are open for business for these chameleons. And it

0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:41.559
<v Speaker 1>has to do with again, whether the chameleon the rotifors

0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:47.320
<v Speaker 1>um or the muscle surrounding each rotors relaxed or agitated,

0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.760
<v Speaker 1>And that has to do with hormones. So when it's relaxed,

0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.040
<v Speaker 1>the muscles are contracted around it and it's just Reford

0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:59.319
<v Speaker 1>reflecting short wavelength light like blue right right. And then

0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.240
<v Speaker 1>when they're excited, I did, those cells go farther apart,

0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:05.520
<v Speaker 1>and they can get more red and orange, yes, which

0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.320
<v Speaker 1>is how they change color. But because they're excited and

0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:12.959
<v Speaker 1>those hormones are churning, that's what triggers those erotophores to

0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:17.200
<v Speaker 1>expand or contract um, which is a difference between chameleons

0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:23.080
<v Speaker 1>and octopi. That um octopied control. They're uh their chramatophor

0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:28.640
<v Speaker 1>sacks with neurons, so it's like instantaneous opening or closing.

0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.800
<v Speaker 1>With chameleons, it takes I mean it's fast, but it

0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.360
<v Speaker 1>takes a little longer because the hormones have to go

0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:38.520
<v Speaker 1>signal the cells to open or clothes, depending on whether

0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:42.280
<v Speaker 1>the animals excited or relaxed. Yeah, and here to me

0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.600
<v Speaker 1>is one of the coolest facts is the actual natural

0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.680
<v Speaker 1>sort of color of a chameleon is more of a yellow,

0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.080
<v Speaker 1>but when you see them, they're usually green when they're

0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:56.520
<v Speaker 1>just chilling out. And that's because and it's very simple everybody,

0:09:56.679 --> 0:10:00.520
<v Speaker 1>when they're relaxed, they're reflecting blue light in blue and

0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.160
<v Speaker 1>yellow make green and the neat that's all there is

0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.679
<v Speaker 1>to do it. Yeah, very cool. I love that one too.

0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.760
<v Speaker 1>Um So, those those erota force chuck are actually beneath

0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.280
<v Speaker 1>their skin, you can see them, and they're able to

0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:17.520
<v Speaker 1>reflectract light well because their skin, the outer layers of

0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:21.360
<v Speaker 1>skin are actually transparent. And apparently chameleons have a little

0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.760
<v Speaker 1>um quick change act where if they're really trying to

0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:28.079
<v Speaker 1>get vibrant in a hurry, they'll just like shed those

0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:34.040
<v Speaker 1>clothes like um Otho in Beetle Juice when he enters

0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:37.360
<v Speaker 1>the spotlight. You remember, his leisure suit just gets pulled

0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.360
<v Speaker 1>or No, his suit gets pulled off and he's wearing

0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.920
<v Speaker 1>a leisure suit underneath. That might be my favorite movie

0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.560
<v Speaker 1>all of all time. I think, I think doing a sequel.

0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.280
<v Speaker 1>They're developing a sequel, same cast, I think, so. I mean,

0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:55.480
<v Speaker 1>I think everyone's there. I can't wait. I'm behind it. Okay,

0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:58.200
<v Speaker 1>same here man. One of my favorite parts ever that

0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:02.520
<v Speaker 1>movie is when uh, he's in the waiting room mhm

0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.600
<v Speaker 1>with a guy with a little head, and he just

0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:08.679
<v Speaker 1>leans over and goes, let me ask you something. How

0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:13.280
<v Speaker 1>do you get him down so small? It's good stuff?

0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:15.560
<v Speaker 1>How do you get him down so small? One of

0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.080
<v Speaker 1>my favorite lines? And then the song of course, I'll

0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.160
<v Speaker 1>eat anything you want me to eat. I'll swallow anything

0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:24.160
<v Speaker 1>you want me to swallow. Remember that? No, what are

0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.640
<v Speaker 1>we talking about? Beetle juice? Yes, he has the song

0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:28.760
<v Speaker 1>I'll eat anything you want me to eat. I'll swallow

0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:32.400
<v Speaker 1>anything you want me to swallows. Come on down? Is

0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:39.080
<v Speaker 1>that in his ad? I think, yeah, I'll just classic.

0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.280
<v Speaker 1>It is classic. I was watching Michael Keaton's early stand

0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:48.439
<v Speaker 1>up earlier, No, Yesterday, how did that go? It was? Okay?

0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:52.800
<v Speaker 1>He wasn't great, um, but you could see the seed. Okay,

0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.120
<v Speaker 1>I can imagine it. Can see him being like real

0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:57.640
<v Speaker 1>judgy and like come on, will be a bone head

0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:01.000
<v Speaker 1>kind of facial expression and smoking cigarette and no, it

0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:04.040
<v Speaker 1>wasn't that. You should check it out. It's interesting, Okay,

0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.360
<v Speaker 1>I'll I will, because I definitely have no idea what

0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:08.240
<v Speaker 1>it's going to be like then. And I met him

0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:13.439
<v Speaker 1>one day, I know, right, Yeah, he lived across the

0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.440
<v Speaker 1>street from where you're shooting and just sort of entertained

0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.560
<v Speaker 1>that the pas and the driveway for ten minutes one day.

0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:22.760
<v Speaker 1>Very nice, very nice guy. Oh yeah, yeah, he was

0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.319
<v Speaker 1>super nice. I'm really glad to hear that he's not.

0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:28.920
<v Speaker 1>He's a chameleon. You can blend into wherever he is.

0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:31.520
<v Speaker 1>A group of pas in the driveway, no problem, or

0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.920
<v Speaker 1>um a rock in the desert, rock in the pain

0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.640
<v Speaker 1>and desert. Are we done with chameleons? I think so, man,

0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.320
<v Speaker 1>I think we're done. I think there's no one listening anymore.

0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:45.120
<v Speaker 1>It's just you and me now, agreed. All right, Well, goodbye, Chuck.

0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:50.680
<v Speaker 1>This is the end of short stuff. Stuff you Should

0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.120
<v Speaker 1>Know is a production of I Heart Radio. For more

0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:55.960
<v Speaker 1>podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,

0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.079
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,