Chameleon colours predict outcome of lizard duel...

[kinyonga]

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24734-chameleon-colours-predict-outcome-of-lizard-duel/

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

I'm skeptable [sic].

First, I question an article that still claims

Chameleons are famous for changing colour to hide from predators by blending into their surroundings...

without dispelling that myth.

Second, I also have a problem with

Ligon and his colleague Kevin McGraw staged a round-robin tournament in which 10 male veiled chameleons were pitted against each other.

vs. observation in the wild. It's also a rather small sampling, not to mention there was no mention of other factors like size, age, health, other genetic factors, etc.

But finally, I think this is likely to be misunderstood

They found that males with the brightest side stripes were more likely to instigate a fight, whereas those with brighter heads that changed colour most rapidly were more likely to win. This suggests that different colours and patterns may signal different aspects of competitive behaviour – how motivated the chameleon is versus its strength.

A chameleon's colors (hue) and patterns are determined—at least partly—by genetics, right?
Are they saying (for example) that a red chameleon is more aggressive than a blue one, or a yellow one is more likely to run away or back off? IDTS.

That wider bands are superior (or inferior) to narrow bands? Again, IDTS.

Perhaps that's not what they meant, but I think they could have phrased things much better to avoid misinterpretation.

Just my opinion.

 

[kinyonga]

Most of what you say/question above is what I was thinking about too!

I don't always post things I think are right...sometimes they are questionable and are food for thought and conversation!

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

No problem. Sometimes you see something and your brain goes... "WHAT‽"