Chameleons can almost instantly change their color and "dissolve" in the environment thanks to high-tech photonic crystals on the surface of their colorless skin cells, whose refractive properties the animal can freely control, according to an article published in the journal Nature Communications.
“We found that the chameleon changes color by actively manipulating the structure of the nanocrystal lattice on the skin's surface. When the reptile is calm, crystals are packed tightly enough in this lattice and reflect mostly blue. On the other hand, when he becomes anxious, the lattice stretches, causing the crystals to reflect other colors such as yellow or red,”explains Jeremy Teyssier of the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Theissier and his colleagues uncovered the high-tech roots of chameleon camouflage by studying the structure of iridophores - special cells on the surface of their skin that have long been considered the source of chameleon coloration.
As the authors of the article note, these cells themselves are not something unusual and new - crystals and structures similar to them are found on the wings of many butterflies of "metallic" color, on the shells of many other insects, bird wings and even in the famous blue folds on the faces of baboons -mandrills.
The main difference between all these animals and chameleons is that they cannot change the structure of these light-refracting organs. Today on Earth there are only a few species of creatures that can change color, and most of them are cephalopods, and almost all of them have developed their own unique methods of changing disguises.
Teissier and his colleagues tried to find out how chameleons do this by studying the structure of iridophores in the skin of panther chameleons (Furcifer pardalis) with a microscope and tracing changes in their shape and vital activity in the body of a living reptile.