8 Popular 'Science Myths' Where The Truth Is Way Cooler

2. Chameleons Change Colour For Camouflage

There are plenty of animals that can change their skin colour and even texture for camouflage, and it looks like legit wizardry when they do.

Chameleons, however, are not generally one of them. It changes colour for much more sophisticated reasons.

If, for example, our chameleon is cold, it might change colour to a deep blackish brown, allowing it to absorb more of the sun's warmth. On the flipside, if it overdoses and gets too hot, it might make itself as pale as possible to reflect as much heat and light as it can.

They also change in relation to their mood and female chameleons even have a special colour for when they are pregnant.

The way they do it is the really cool part. Rather than using pigment, they actually have layers and layers of nanoparticles underneath their skin that they are able to manipulate to alter which wavelengths of light reflected and which are absorbed.

They're also pressure sensitive and will change colour if you squish them, just in case you were in the business of getting banned from zoos.