• Question: What colour is a chameleaon sitting on a mirror?

    Asked by katherinegauld to Anne, Carolyn, Joe, Mariana, Nick on 22 Mar 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joseph Devlin

      Joseph Devlin answered on 22 Mar 2010:

      I don’t know but this is awesome:

      http://www.chameleonshops.com/super-chameleon/

    • Photo: Nick Bradshaw

      Nick Bradshaw answered on 22 Mar 2010:

      If the mirror was facing upwards – blue like the sky (or white if its cloudy). Actually, I expect it would be whatever its natural colour was, and this varies between different species. In fact I gather that a lot of chameleons change their colour more to reflect their mood and social status then to match the surroundings (in which case it would depend whether the chameleon liked being on the mirror or not).

    • Photo: Carolyn McGettigan

      Carolyn McGettigan answered on 22 Mar 2010:

      Clever question! Well, I think this all hinges on why a chameleon changes it colour anyway, and apparently this is primarily to reflect physiological change (for example in temperature) and for social reasons rather than for camouflage. So, it is claimed that a chameleon placed on a mirror would probably become quite stressed by the apparent presence of another chameleon that it couldn’t escape and would change to whatever colour it goes when it gets stressed by the threat. This is actually quite a cruel thing to do to a chameleon as they are solitary creatures and can be easily die in exceedingly stressful situations.

      The more mathematical explorations of this question – for example, its back would turn the colour of its stomach, but what if its stomach was patches of several colours etc etc – are purely theoretical.

    • Photo: Mariana Vargas

      Mariana Vargas answered on 22 Mar 2010:

      Good one! Would it be the same colour the chameleon was at the moment when you put it on the mirror :)?

Comments

  • Photo: katherinegauld

    katherinegauld commented on :

    🙂 I knew the answer to this, but still wanted to jjust see your answers. So yeah, the answer is it would be the colour that represents its mood, or mating status ect, as they dont actually (well most species at any rate) change their colour to act as a method of camoflauge, as their original colour acts as enough camoflauge for everyday use. Glad you liked the question =) as you can see i am very enthused about this kind of thing, which is good as i hope to study zoology at uni.

  • modshamini commented on :

    Wow Joe – is that chamaeleon in the link you posted real?!?

  • Moderator - Craig commented on :

    That’s an astonishing link… can’t be real surely? I thought chameleons changed colour due to social mood? We had a question in another zone… what colour is a chameleon sitting on glass!

  • Photo: rebeccaxox

    rebeccaxox commented on :

    thats so goooddd?xxx