Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey,
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, I'm Lauren bog Obama. And Chameleons have built
Speaker 1: a pretty solid reputation on two commonly held beliefs, that
Speaker 1: they can stealthily blend into their surroundings and that they
Speaker 1: are the ideal subjects for iconic eighties anthems. But it
Speaker 1: turns out that one of those supposed facts isn't quite right.
Speaker 1: In fact, everything you think you know about chameleons and
Speaker 1: their color changing capabilities is probably backward. We spoke with
Speaker 1: Daniel Flynn, marketing manager for the Conservation Society of California
Speaker 1: at the Oakland Zoo. He said the color changing properties
Speaker 1: of chameleons don't really help them blend in, but rather
Speaker 1: their natural relaxed state is what helps them blend in.
Speaker 1: The expression blending in like a chameleon isn't entirely accurate,
Speaker 1: meaning these lizards don't change their appearance to fit in,
Speaker 1: but rather to stand out. Scientists Long believes the chameleons
Speaker 1: change their coloring similarly to the way to puss a
Speaker 1: switch shades, which is by stretching and contracting a series
Speaker 1: of special cells under their skin that contain pigments, thus
Speaker 1: making the color more or less pronounced. But biologists and
Speaker 1: physicists somewhat recently realized that something else entirely is going
Speaker 1: on with chameleons. They have crystal like cells under their
Speaker 1: skin that refract light. They're called aritophores, and these cells
Speaker 1: go through structural changes to produce different effects. Flynn explained
Speaker 1: that when anything agitates or exhilarates the chameleon, that's when
Speaker 1: things get colorful. He said, when they get excited, feel threatened,
Speaker 1: or want to display positively towards a mate or negatively
Speaker 1: to arrival, the crystals separate or compress and give off
Speaker 1: the appearance of different colors. In a twenty fifteen study
Speaker 1: published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers with the University
Speaker 1: of Geneva in Switzerland revealed that a ritophores act like
Speaker 1: tiny mirrors that selectively reflect and absorb different colors. While
Speaker 1: a lot of animals have color patterns, birds and fish,
Speaker 1: for example, the cells that make their vibrant displays possible
Speaker 1: typically absorb or reflect certain regions of the visible light spectrum.
Speaker 1: Each cell has its specialty. Chameleon cells are different. Aritophores
Speaker 1: can actually absorb or reflect any and all colors of
Speaker 1: the spectrum. Flynn said some species change more colors than others.
Speaker 1: For example, some will change shades lighter to darker, while
Speaker 1: others change to more vibrant, bright colors. There are quite
Speaker 1: a few species, so there's a lot of variants among
Speaker 1: all of them. They can change all different types of colors,
Speaker 1: even colors that aren't visible to the human eye. When
Speaker 1: a chameleon's mood changes, its nervous system activates the cells
Speaker 1: to contract or expand. When the animal is relaxed, the
Speaker 1: cells stay close together and reflect short wavelengths like blue.
Speaker 1: A rush of excitement pushes those cells further apart, enabling
Speaker 1: each aritophor to reflect longer wavelengths like red, orange, and yellow.
Speaker 1: But if the naturally relaxed cells reflect blue, y are
Speaker 1: chilled out. Chameleons typically green like their surroundings. This has
Speaker 1: to do with pigment sacks inside the aritophores, Flynn explained. Basically,
Speaker 1: when a chameleon is relaxed, they're naturally visible is green
Speaker 1: to help them camouflage with the green leaves and trees.
Speaker 1: This is due to the natural yellow pigment combined with
Speaker 1: a relaxed state of the crystal cells, which reflect blue light.
Speaker 1: Blue plus yellow equals green. It may not be easy
Speaker 1: being green, but it's necessary for the chameleon, which has
Speaker 1: no real defenses, Blending in is its best bet against predators.
Speaker 1: So if the color changes are due to special cells
Speaker 1: under the skin, why are the effects external. The outermost
Speaker 1: layer of the chameleon skin is actually transparent. Beneath that
Speaker 1: outer layer lies several more layers containing a variety of
Speaker 1: specialized skills, including the blue and white light reflecting aritophores.
Speaker 1: What's really wild is if the chameleon needs a dramatic
Speaker 1: quick change, like when it's trying to show off for
Speaker 1: a potential mate, it can quickly shed its outer layers
Speaker 1: of skin to expose the aritophores to direct sunlight in
Speaker 1: a hurry. There's not a ton of research to support
Speaker 1: it yet, but some scientists believe chameleons color changing abilities
Speaker 1: also allow them to regulate their body temperature. A study
Speaker 1: demonstrated the bearded dragons alter their hue based on their
Speaker 1: body temperature, and since chameleons are ectotherms and can't retain
Speaker 1: body heat, hence their stereotypical sunbathing. It's possible that maintaining
Speaker 1: a dark color allows them to absorb more light and heat.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Michelle kumb Stantardowski and produced
Speaker 1: by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production that I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more on this and
Speaker 1: lots of other colorful topics, visit our home planet has
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com, and for more podcasts for our
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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.