Chameleons Fine-tune Camouflage to Predator's Vision


	Chameleons Fine-tune Camouflage to Predator's Vision

tabsey

5-23-2008 11:09 AM

293 views

tags:

amazing, nature

tabsey says:

Amazing nature. Not just camouflage but smarts too.

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5-23-2008 12:46 PM

michellezm

One of the biggest threats to this chameleon in the
Cape region is the mechanical harvesting of grapes. When grapes are hand-picked the chameleons are spared, but a mechanical harvester does not discriminate.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/e5c83ed6-343a-4e61-98c3-de1adf23d4a4/9C98E51D-AEBC-45ED-AC5F-03FBC06DF3EC/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/05/chameleons-fine.html" href="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/05/chameleons-fine.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.dailygalaxy.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/05/chameleons-fine.html"><P><A href="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/05/22/reptileeye.jpg"><IMG width="300" height="191" border="0" alt="Reptileeye" title="Reptileeye" src="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/images/2008/05/22/reptileeye.jpg" /></A>
Chameleons' mastery of camouflage goes further than anyone expected – it seems they can fine-tune their color changes to the visual systems of specific predators, according to research by Devi Stuart-Fox at the University of Melbourne, Australia based on studies of Smith's dwarf chameleon, which lives in South Africa.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/05/chameleons-fine.html"><P>This critically endangered chameleon can alter its color palette in milliseconds, either for camouflage or for social signaling.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/05/chameleons-fine.html"><P>The team captured eight males and eight females of the species. They
placed them on a branch and presented them with realistic models of two
of their biggest predators: the fiscal shrike (a bird that impales
chameleons on thorns before eating them) and a venomous tree snake
called the boomslang.<BR />Using a spectrometer, the team took readings
of the color shades and brightness of the background and the chameleon.
Then, after the chameleon had spotted the predator and changed color,
they took another set of readings.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/9C98E51D-AEBC-45ED-AC5F-03FBC06DF3EC/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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