Parietal Eye

[JoshCrane1]

Do veileds have them? (the 3rd eye). sometime i swear my male knows when im close by when he's lightly sleeping. his eyes can be totally closed and if my hand gets close to him he will automatically respond even before his eyes open.

i was trying to take a little bit of shed off of turk about a half hour after bedtime, i thought he was asleep, but when i got within 4 inches of him he puffed up and acted like i woke him, but i didnt even touch him or shake the cage or anything; how did he know i was there? all i can think is this parietal eye theory.

any thoughts?

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

"A Rudimentary Third Eye
A chameleon has a small light-sensitive spot on the top of its head. This "third eye" doesn’t form an image, so it is only a rudimentary eye. It is called "the parietal eye", and pages 26-27 in The Chameleon Handbook, by Francois LeBerre, shows where it is located on the chameleon’s head. In chameleons, the third eye is covered by scales, but in some other kinds of lizards, it is not covered. The third eye is only sensitive to violet and blue light: it ignores light of longer wavelengths.

Fossils of certain extinct fish, amphibia and reptiles also show the third eye. The pineal gland in the brains of humans and other mammals probably evolved from the third eye. In mammals the pineal gland no longer senses light directly; it gets information about brightness from the other two eyes, and then produces hormones that affect sleepiness and wakefulness, including jet lag."

Taken from this web site:
http://www.opticsforkids.org/tutorials/chameleonschange.html

 

[JoshCrane1]

interesting. still wondering how he knew i was close, maybe he was peeking.lol

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Other possibilities are that he:
felt your breath
felt you open his cage
felt the vibration of your approach

Somewhere on this forum, early last year I think, there is a cute/funny thread about what color a SLEEPING chameleon turns when the keeper blows on him at night.

 

[JoshCrane1]

that is funny, i did blow on him earlier and he puffed out his blue gular area and showed turquiose spots, wish i had a camera on hand.

 

[kinyonga]

Here's a bit more information....
http://books.google.ca/books?id=8Wk...ig=yPzwW7d5D71_cotqAtocv6Wj2mw&hl=en#PPA30,M1

http://www.thereptilefile.com/wiki/index.php?title=Veiled_Chameleon
"Like most lizards, chameleons have a third eye called the parietal eye. This is located on the very top of the head and looks like a very tiny milky scale. This is a fully functioning eye, however it is only able to detect light and dark such as shadows going overhead. This is part of their advanced warning system that allows them to see birds of prey flying over head. They act accordingly by darting into the foliage out of sight and relative safety."