About This Project

Chameleonids are a famous family of lizards mostly known for their incredible color change ability. However, contrary to the common belief, chameleons don't change color for camouflage but to communicate. But what could they say to each other? That's what we try to answer in our project by investigating the color change during courtship, to see if the male is giving relevant information about his quality as reproducer or as father (ex: good genes), or if he's just a smooth talker.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

During sexual selection, animals rely on communication signals to choose their mates. This choice can rely on signals produced during a short period of time, called events. In some cases, events, like mate calls in some tree frogs, can be a driver a speciation by creating a pre-copulatory barrier. However, even if mate calls are intuitive to us, some animals , including as octopuses, cuttlefishes, and chameleons, rely mostly on their eyesight to communicate and use their incredible color change ability to communicate. Here I propose to investigate if color changing ability, like mate calls, can drive speciation using chameleon as biological model.

What is the significance of this project?

This project will shed light on the meaning of the color change during sexual selection in chameleon and help us better understand the selective pressure that drove their diversification.

Results concerning what signals the mate choice relies on can be used for the management of invasive species of chameleons (e.g. Trioceros Jacksonii and Chamaeleo calyptratus); or used by chameleon's breeders to improve their clutches and mating.

What are the goals of the project?

In this project, we aimed to study the color change ability of chameleons during courtship. However, a lot of studies on animal colors have been based on our visual perception, on our eyesight, while most of the animals have a different visual system and thus different visual perception. That's why, here, we propose to study the color change but through the chameleon's eyes by using a set of cameras that can record in their visual spectrum, from UV to near infrared.

We want to study especially the color change in chameleon because they mostly use this ability to communicate, thus we want to know what could they say to each other especially during courtship. Is the male just a smooth talker, saying what the female wants? Or is he showing honestly his overall quality as a male?