Animal Trivia Questions › this question
Which reptile is famous for changing colour?
Chameleon
Chameleons change colour, but not for the reason most people assume. The old idea that they match their background is largely wrong. The colour shift is mainly a signal, of aggression, submission, readiness to mate, or simply of body temperature, since a darker skin absorbs more heat in the morning and a paler one reflects it at midday. The mechanism is unusual too. Rather than moving pigment around, chameleons have a layer of skin cells containing a lattice of tiny crystals, and by relaxing or tightening that lattice they change the spacing between crystals, which changes which wavelengths of light are reflected. It is structural colour, the same physics that makes a soap bubble or a beetle's shell iridescent, controlled actively. The rest of the animal is equally specialised: eyes that swivel independently for a near-complete field of view, gripping feet with fused toes, and a projectile tongue.
Several octopus and cuttlefish species change colour and texture far faster and more precisely than any chameleon.
Why the other answers are wrong
- Gecko. Geckos are known instead for climbing sheer glass, using microscopic hairs on their toes that stick by molecular attraction.
- Iguana. Iguanas are large plant-eating lizards; some shift shade slightly with temperature but nothing like a chameleon's display.
- Skink. Skinks are smooth, short-legged lizards, many of which can shed their tail to escape a grip.
Play the animal round
This question is one of 42 in the animal set, which you can play as multiple choice, true or false, a 60-second sprint or the daily quiz. Animal trivia Easy questions Daily quiz