How do chameleons change color and know which color to change to?
“It’s a popular misconception that the chameleon changes its color to match that of the background,” says Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Light, temperature, and emotions determine color changes. Most chameleon species have a basic color and pattern that suits their habitat and provides camouflage. They change color to communicate mood changes to other chameleons. An angry chameleon goes “black with rage”, says the International Wildlife Encyclopedia. He can change to various shades of green, blue-green, turquoise, and black. The transparent skin of a chameleon has four layers which work together to produce various colors. The outside layer has two kinds of color cells, yellow and red. Just inside this layer are two more layers that reflect light: one blue and the other white. The innermost layer — important and complicated — contains pigment granules (melanophore cells). The melanophores have a dark brown pigment called melanin, the same substance that colors human skin brown or black
