This is scientific Americans 60 second science.

I'm Jason Goldman.

Various animals evolved coloration that keeps them hidden.

A jaguar's patterns help it slink undetected across the sun-dappled rainforest floor.

The modeled pigmentation on the wings of some moths lets them rest on tree bark undisturbed.

And then there are animals that can quickly change their appearance.

For example, the central bearded dragon.

This two foot long lizard lives in the more arid parts of Australia.

They can change color really quickly, so just in a matter of seconds or minutes.

University of Melbourne biologist Katie Smith.

And they do this by moving pigments within specialized skin cells called chromatophores.

Bearded dragons modify their colors for camouflage or to maintain their body temperature

or to communicate with other dragons.

Smith wanted to know how they meet all those needs with the same toolkit.

So she and her team rounded up 12 bearded dragons and put them through a series of tests before

releasing them back into the wild.

They found that when the dragons want to communicate

with other members of their species,

they change the colors on their neck.

And this is actually one of the reasons

they're called Bearded Dragons,

because they look like they have a really serious 5 o'clock shadow.

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