Beastfile · Reptiles
Panther Chameleon
Furcifer pardalis
Color that signals mood, not background, in a different palette per valley.
Overview
The panther chameleon is the one people picture when they picture a chameleon: a stocky Madagascan lizard in bands of turquoise, red and green, with independently swivelling turret eyes and a tongue it fires at prey. The color change is widely misunderstood. It is not camouflage matching a background. Chameleons shift color mainly to signal mood, temperature and readiness to breed, and they do it by rearranging nanocrystals in a layer of skin cells to change which wavelengths reflect, rather than by shuffling pigment. Males from different parts of Madagascar carry strikingly different color schemes, known as locales.
Origin
Endemic to northern and eastern Madagascar, in coastal lowland forest, scrub and edge habitat, including trees around cultivated land.
Habitat
RainforestNotable Traits
- •Color signals mood and temperature, not background matching
- •Changes color by tuning nanocrystals in the skin, not by moving pigment
- •Eyes rotate independently for near-360 degree vision
- •A projectile tongue that can exceed its own body length
- •Distinct regional color forms, called locales
Conservation
Least Concern, and unusually adaptable for a Madagascan reptile: it tolerates disturbed and edge habitat well. It is collected for the international pet trade, which is regulated by export quota.