Animal Magician
These animals are amazing. They’re famous animal magicians that could perform many tricks. Not only they can change color, but they’re amazing in other ways, too.
You may have watched a fiction movie on a famous wizard, Harry Potter, who’s good at playing tricks towards the monsters and unknown objects. Like Harry Potter, chameleons are the best magician in the animal kingdom. They can play LOTS of tricks too! They can change color in an instant though!
Chameleons have long been popular for their tricks as they can change color easily. But actually, chameleons are amazing in other ways, because they can perform a good role play as a natural magician. And color change is not the only tricks chameleons can do. They can perform other unique tricks too!
There are about 90 different species of them. Some can be measured as long as your arm, or as short as your thumb. That explains that why sometimes you observe chameleons to have a couple inches long, while some may reach to a couple of feet long. They dwell in warm regions, primarily in Asia and Africa.
Image by author taken at a tropical rain forest
Even though most chameleons are found in brown or green color, you can also observe some with their bodies appearing red, black, yellow or blue.
What so special about this chameleon? It’s its bulging eyes, which are covered with scaly lids. If you observe chameleon closely, you’ll come to notice that its eyes can move in two different directions, almost at the same time.
Chameleon says, “ Don’t trick me! When one of my eyes is looking at you, the other eye of mine is looking back, so please don’t play dirty trick on me.”
Image by author taken at a tropical rain forest
Most chameleons prefer to dwell in trees, and most of the time, they’ll coil up their tails. If they want to grip tightly to the tree, they’ll normally wrap their tails around the branches. To climb, they use their gasping claws, which enable them to move swiftly and effectively. Their long tails also assist them while moving around the different surfaces encountered on earth.
A change in temperature or light can cause a color change of chameleon. The chameleons tend to have darker color when they are exposed to warmth and sunlight in their survival surroundings. Nevertheless, their colors become lighter in coolness or under shade.
Mood also causes chameleon to change color. When they’re angry, their colors tend to be darker, but when they’re afraid, their colors tend to be dull and lighter. The change of color isn’t really magic for chameleons as it’s due to layers of color cells located onto their skins. Since each layer in the cells has different pigments, or chemicals which can create color, the pigment will shift with the change of moods, light, warmth and temperature. In conclusion, their patterns and colors can change anytime, almost in the blink of eyes!
The chameleon says, “Hi, human, see my spell! I’ve turned into another chameleon, hahaha…”
Do you know that chameleons have a secret weapon? They’ve a very sticky-tipped, long tongue! The hungry chameleons wait at the strategic location patiently. When their prey passes by, they will shoot out their powerful tongues to catch them, just like they’re shooting their prey with a powerful GUN. They then swallow the prey in whole in a tremendous manner! It’s scary, right?
Male chameleon prefers to attract their mates with SPELL. They use the spell of color to attract the female chameleon. Color wars happen very often in the world of chameleons when they try to scare each other by turning into bright colors.
Now, you can read more of my works at my science blog ScienceQuest.
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33 Responses to “Animal Magician”
On May 10, 2009 at 10:32 am
Great article Chan.
On May 10, 2009 at 11:11 am
Very nicely written article with nice supporting pictures.
On May 10, 2009 at 11:19 am
Neat piece, but the text kept changing color!
Thanks,
Clay
On May 10, 2009 at 11:25 am
I love the name you’ve given them – animal magician! Though im not too fond of them, they always amazed me!
On May 10, 2009 at 11:32 am
Chameleons are fascinating creature to watch…Entertaining piece!
On May 10, 2009 at 11:37 am
Good to see these chameleons in the pictures, but in reality I am damn sacred to even see them.
On May 10, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Cool article, Chan. London is actually overrun with these animals, but they are so clever no one has spotted them yet!
On May 10, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Chameleons certainly are amazing creatures. An excellent and well rearched article.
Christine
On May 10, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Very cool article CHAN!!
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
On May 10, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I love watching them here in Cyprus. Great informative article, thanks Chan.
On May 10, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Great well written article!~ Hate their beady eyes.
On May 10, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Cool article, really enjoyed it!
On May 10, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I used to play with flying lizards and the likes but I never knew they can perform tricks. Nice one Chan. Great post.
On May 10, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Wonderful creatures.
On May 10, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Great article.
I remember a path that I used to take that past by a school field. I used to count the number of chameleons that I can spot on the fence that surrounded it.
Thanks!
On May 10, 2009 at 10:16 pm
How do they do it? They are amazing.
On May 10, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Beautifully done, Chan. Thanks so much for sharing! I have learned from you today.
On May 11, 2009 at 5:49 am
I would really like to witness the war of colors
On May 11, 2009 at 10:47 am
A magical piece. Well done.
On May 11, 2009 at 4:34 pm
very enjoyable article – I learned a lot my friend, also love the photos.
On May 11, 2009 at 6:36 pm
cool animal,cool article
On May 11, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Saludos esta super tu artìculo
On May 12, 2009 at 10:03 am
Fantastic! ..thats really amaze me..Great post!..wonderful and well presented article about chameleons..LOV it..a must read article..well done and thanx for sharing
On May 13, 2009 at 12:30 am
Very well done. Only I’m don’t like the sight of those lizzard looking creatures. The photos are vivid and support the facts very well.
Monica.
On May 13, 2009 at 8:03 pm
i love it !!!great article! and an amazing animal !!
On May 14, 2009 at 1:32 am
Wonderful! great presentation , my dear friend.
On May 14, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Really nice work. Regards mate.
On May 15, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Chan,
Very interesting article. I did not know that there are ninety different species.
On May 15, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Dear Chan,
Your amazing scientific aptitude is a rare to find quality. Super stunning pictures. From my Ph.D. eyes, that was a treat.
On May 18, 2009 at 4:54 am
Nice share.
On May 22, 2009 at 11:38 pm
you’ve got really good sources of these images. i wonder how nice the world of animals are:)
On May 26, 2009 at 6:21 am
it is cool dude
On June 3, 2009 at 11:36 am
very entertaining article! liked it!
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