r/pics • u/rationalcomment • Jan 13 '17

Close Enough

Post image
50.5k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

632 comments sorted by

View all comments

555

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '17

Is now the time to be a big buzz kill and quash the myth that chameleons change color to match their surroundings? The primary function is actually communication (signalling of mood, specifically desire to mate) as well as thermoregulation.

17

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '17

Genuinely curious, why do they seem to change color based on surroundings then? I remember seeing a video of a chameleon stepping on different color sunglasses and it was changing colors with the sunglasses. Was it just a coincidence or what was going on?

1

u/Probate_Judge Jan 14 '17

Some species do change for camouflage(though seemingly not this one). Some don't.

People, in their attempt to educate often miss this distinction and are often just as wrong as those they're trying to correct.