• Question: Why do chameleons change their colours?

    Asked by 455xygg52 to Gavin, Karen, Mark, Michel, Roisin on 15 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Mark Kennedy

      Mark Kennedy answered on 15 Nov 2016:

      They change their colours to blend in with their surroundings, which makes it harder for prey to find them.

      Some chameleons also change their colour to help change their body temperature (like how on a hot day, if you were a dark tshirt, it gets really hot, while a white tshirt doesn’t).

      They do it by changing the distance between special cells on their skin. When the cells are far apart, the light reflected by their skin is redder than when the cells are close together. So they can change all the cells to match different parts of the colour spectrum.

    • Photo: Roisin Jones

      Roisin Jones answered on 16 Nov 2016:

      Mark has this one pretty much covered, the only thing I have to add is that chameleons often change their colours for something called ‘social signalling’, i.e. signalling to other chameleons how they’re feeling. For example, if a chameleon was feeling aggressive in a stand off with another chameleon, they would put on bright aggressive colours, and if they’re submitting or giving in, the colours become darker!

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