The Most Famous Camouflaging Reptile:
the Chameleon

Have you ever seen a chameleon changing its color according to its surroundings? This is indeed something worth seeing. The chameleon has such an exceptional ability to camouflage itself that its deftness astonishes everyone. Although many other reptile species have the ability to change their colors, none of them is capable of doing it as rapidly as chameleons.

The chameleon uses red and yellow color carriers, blue and white reflector layers and most importantly "chromatophores", skin cells that respond to variations in heat, light and the animal's mood. If you put a chameleon in a very yellow setting, for example, you would see that the color of its body instantly turns yellow and adapts to its surroundings. What's more, chameleons adapt not only to a single color, but also to multicolored substrata. The secret of their achievement is the color cells, lying under the skin of this master of camouflage, which magnify and swiftly change place to adapt to the environment. Could a chameleon make such a perfect adaptation on its own? How do these creatures indistinguishably blend in with the environments in which they live, while even the most skilful artist has to work for hours to obtain the equivalent of a single natural color?

It would surely be unreasonable to claim that a chameleon could perform such an act of its own volition. It is certainly not possible for a reptile to determine the appearance of its body, nor to place a system in its body to change its appearance. It would be just as nonsensical to claim that this creature has control over all the cells and atoms in its body, that it is capable of making whatever change it wishes on them and produce the required pigments. It is totally inconsistent and meaningless to claim that such an exceptional ability has come into being by chance. No mechanism in nature has the power of producing such perfect skill and granting it to the being that needs it. Just as all other living beings on earth, God also created chameleons. God demonstrates to us the uniqueness of His artistry in creation with these examples. God is the Almighty, the All-Wise.

Everything in the heavens and the earth glorifies God. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. The kingdom of the heavens and the earth belongs to Him. He gives life and causes to die. He has power over all things. (Qur'an, 57:1-2)