chameleon

The chameleon's skin changes with the background, temperature, and mood; the male chameleon turns the dark protective color into a bright color to warn other chameleons to leave their territory; some chameleons turn the calm green to red. To threaten the enemy. The purpose is to protect yourself from being attacked and to survive.

Chameleon is a kind of "family" arboreal reptile. In nature, it deserves to be a "camouflage master." In order to escape the invasion of natural enemies and close to their prey, this reptile often changes the body color inadvertently, and then Move yourself into the surrounding environment. This may be the perception of most people about chameleons, but do you really understand this wonderful animal? Why do they change color when they are not moving? Is it just to adapt to the environment?

Discoloration can avoid predators, express feelings, similar to human language

Recently, the National Geographic magazine pointed out that according to the latest findings of animal experts, chameleon transform body color is not only for camouflage, another important role of body color transformation is to achieve information transfer between chameleons, easy to communicate with peers This is equivalent to the human language, which in turn expresses the intention of the chameleon.

Chameleons pass information by transforming body color and communicate with peers

Chameleons are also known as refuge, mainly in Africa, with a few in Asia and southern Europe, and Madagascar in Africa is their paradise. Christopher, deputy director of reptile zoology at the National Museum of Natural History in New York, USA? Laxworth is currently a senior global chameleon research expert. He has discovered several new types of lizards and has actively called on international organizations to protect the chameleon habitat in Madagascar. Through an in-depth study of the habits of chameleons, Laxworth pointed out that another function of the chameleon transforming body color is to communicate and convey information, which was not discovered in previous studies.

Laxworth found that the information transfer and expression between the chameleons was done by transforming the body color, and they often showed different body color when defending their territory and rejecting the court. He said, "In order to show his sovereignty over the territory, the male chameleon is facing the same kind of demonstrations against the territorial territory, and the body color is correspondingly bright. When encountering the unsuspecting court-seeker, the female chameleon will refuse. The body color will become dim and appear flashing red spots; in addition, when the chameleon is intended to provoke a dispute and launch an attack, the body color will become very dark."

Chameleon discoloration depends on the skin's three layers of pigment cells

Unlike other reptiles, the ability of a chameleon to change body color depends entirely on the pigment cells in the surface layer of the skin, which are filled with pigments of different colors. Anderson, of the Department of Biology, Cornell University, New York, explained in detail the chameleon's "color-changing principle": chameleon skin has three layers of pigment cells, and the deepest layer is composed of melanocytes, which contain melanin and the upper layer of cells. Intermingling; the middle layer is composed of guanine cells, which mainly regulate dark blue pigment; the outermost cells are mainly yellow pigment and red pigment. Anderson said, "Based on the neurological regulation mechanism, the pigment cells under the stimulation of the nerve will make the pigment blend between the layers to achieve a variety of changes in the body color of the chameleon."

Discoloration can avoid predators, express feelings, similar to human language

Chameleon is a kind of "family" arboreal reptile. In nature, it deserves to be a "camouflage master." In order to escape the invasion of natural enemies and close to their prey, this reptile often changes the body color inadvertently, and then Move yourself into the surrounding environment. This may be the perception of most people about chameleons, but do you really understand this wonderful animal? Why do they change color when they are not moving? Is it just to adapt to the environment?

Recently, the National Geographic magazine pointed out that according to the latest findings of animal experts, chameleon transform body color is not only for camouflage, another important role of body color transformation is to achieve information transfer between chameleons, easy to communicate with peers This is equivalent to the human language, which in turn expresses the intention of the chameleon.

Chameleon origins in Africa, according to their living habits, the breeder is best to use a terrarium with branches to give the chameleon a small home, while ensuring natural sunlight as much as possible, the ideal condition is that the chameleon is 30 minutes a day, the best sunshine time is In the morning and before the meal, the color of the chameleon will be brighter and brighter in natural light.

Chameleon is a cold-blooded animal, so it has similarities to tropical fish during feeding: higher temperature conditions are required. Normally the daytime temperature should be maintained between 28 degrees Celsius and 32 degrees Celsius, and the nighttime temperature can be maintained between 22 degrees Celsius and 26 degrees Celsius. If it is cold for a long time, the chameleon will lose appetite and slow down the growth, and even affect the health of the body.

The main food of the chameleon is insects. Most chameleons produce anorexia to a single food, sometimes refuse to eat until death.

Fifth grade: Huang Zijian