How does a chameleon change its colors? Detailed answer

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How does a chameleon change its colors? Detailed answer

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How does a chameleon change its colors?

Has nature endowed the chameleon with the ability to automatically change its color from bright green to gray-black or yellow, depending on the surface on which it is located?

Oddly enough, the color does not depend on the environment! The chameleon just doesn't pay any attention to it.

The skin of the animal is transparent. Below it are black, red and yellow cells. When they contract or expand, it seems that the chameleon changes its color.

But what makes these cells work? When an animal is angry or afraid, its nervous system sends signals to these cells. Rage causes a dark color, excitement or fear - pale shades and yellow spots.

Sunlight also affects the color of the chameleon. The hot sun makes the cells dark or even black. Heat without sunlight causes a green color, and in the dark, the chameleon becomes creamy with yellow spots.

As you can see, factors such as emotions, temperature, light, and not the environment at all, cause the animal's nervous system to change the state of colored cells.

But these color changes help the chameleon to hide from its enemies, such as snakes and birds. And since the animal moves very slowly, this is a necessary type of protection in order to save its life.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Why do our teeth decay?

In protozoa, teeth are replaced throughout life. As soon as the teeth wear out and fall out, others immediately grow in their place. A person has only one replacement of teeth. Children by the age of two have only 20 teeth, called milk teeth. Under the milk teeth are the second teeth, which begin to erupt by the age of six. These milk teeth are replaced by the age of 12.

An adult should have a full set of teeth - 32 molars. After that, we can no longer grow new teeth, so the teeth must be monitored to avoid their destruction. Usually the enamel starts to break down. You can see how defects appear on the enamel. It may just be a small hole. But the bacteria that are always present in our mouths soon break down the surface of the enamel and settle underneath. Bacteria do not eat enamel, but they can feed on dentin and lymph, which is located in the channels of the dentin. Subsequently, bacteria corrode the walls of the channels, and a crack forms in the enamel. It may not be noticeable for some time.

But if the bacteria undermine the tooth so much that the walls are too thin, we will find out about this very quickly. This will happen due to the fact that hot or cold will be able to penetrate through the hole into the pulp. The pulp occupies the free space in the center of the tooth and contains the nerves. These nerves are excited by exposure to cold or hot.

When the teeth become sensitive to cold or hot, this means that decay has taken place. When bacteria enter the pulp through the tubules of the dentin, they find an abundance of food and breeding ground there. So we experience a toothache that causes a lot of inconvenience, it is impossible to eat anything, there is no strength to endure. The shell of the tooth begins to die. Moral - go to the dentist more often!

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Random news from the Archive

Silence after snowfall 14.01.2023

Snowy winters are beautiful in their own right, but many of us may have noticed that after a snowfall, something magical happens on the street - an unusual silence sets in, which we would hardly be able to observe on any other day.

A peculiar silence is partly due to the less active person who involuntarily comes after a snowfall, but not only. This effect is also partly related to the acoustic damping effect of snow. Today scientists decided to shed light on this "magic effect".

Going outside after a snowfall may well seem "magic", because the effect of snowy landscapes is significantly emphasized by the change in the soundscape - it seems that everything on the street suddenly subsides.

This interesting effect of all-consuming silence is partly due to a decrease in human activity - there are fewer people on the street, less traffic on the roads. In addition, construction sites are shut down, road repairs are delayed, and other sources of anthropogenic noise are silenced. Even the singing of birds is still muffled.

However, American scientists note that this is not all. The silence after a snowfall is also due to the fact that snow essentially has an acoustic damping effect - that is, it dampens echoes normally bounced off the ground and other surfaces. The fact is that snow consists of ice crystals, which are good sound insulation. However, in this case, they are loosely packed together with a lot of snow - the resulting cellular material is a good sound insulator.

Back in 2008, experts conducted a study in Alaska. Then the experiment showed that a blank shot from a pistol on a snowy surface is attenuated by 30 dB - in fact, this is equivalent to the difference between a conversation and a whisper.

Sound refraction plays an important role in creating "silence after snowfall". This is due to the fact that during a snowfall, the air is warmer near the ground, and colder above it. It is this combination that causes the sound to refract, bending it upwards - this reduces the volume that is transmitted at ground level.

At the same time, if the snow partially melts and freezes, it can improve the reflection. The researchers note that the eerie silence after a snowfall is usually a short pause before the resumption of "noisy work".

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