Changeable Charlie Animals

Chameleons are famous for changing their color to match backgrounds. Shown below are more amazing, color-changing marine animals. All changes increase their survival rates. Click on the arrows to see the "presto, changeo" talents displayed.
   Mark Mancini compiled this article, see below for particulars. BBL

filed under: Animals, Lists, science

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GETTY IMAGES

Chameleons are often described as the “quick-change artists” of the animal kingdom, rapidly altering the shade of their skins to blend into their environment. But contrary to popular opinion, these tree-dwelling lizards are actually rather poor color-changers, as you can see in the clip below, which features a Madagascarian panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis):

While the creature's hue does change noticeably, the process takes several minutes and the eye-catching striped pattern on its sides remains intact—hardly the features of good camouflage. Furthermore, odds are that when you do see a chameleon change its color, it's probably trying to broadcast its mood rather than evade predators.

Nevertheless, the animal kingdom is filled with amazing color-changers, several of which dramatically outdo the chameleon clan in the skill of rapid-fire camouflage.

1. THE CUTTLEFISH (ORDER: SEPIIDA)

Despite their cute-sounding name, these eccentric critters are actually cephalopods (the first of several you'll see on this list). Like many residents of their food chain, cuttlefish have to regularly switch between playing the roles of crafty predator and elusive prey. A group of specialized sacs which receive color-changing instructions directly from their brains help them to both grab a quick meal and avoid becoming one themselves.

2. THE PEACOCK FLOUNDER (BOTHUS MANCUS)

These flat fish are deadly predators thanks in part to a series of hormones that send pigment-modifying signals to their skin cells, which take effect within seconds. However, as you can see in the video below, their disguises aren't always perfect.

3. VARIOUS SQUID SPECIES

Several types of squid throughout the globe are capable of breathtaking color changes, such as this captive specimen filmed in a Turkish aquarium:

Recently, it was discovered that the series of pigment cells which control the color of these tentacled hunters could be synthetically manipulated by man-made electrical charges, as seen in the magnificent footage below:

4. VARIOUS SPIDER SPECIES

A wide variety of eight-legged arachnids use camouflage to stalk their unsuspecting prey, including the bee-slaying white crab spider:

But amidst the 43,000 species known to science, a handful have even been known to engage in sudden spats of color-change. Among these are the genera Chrysso and Cryptophora, both of which hail from Australia.

5. THE CYANEA OCTOPUS (OCTOPUS CYANEA)

Using the same hue-shifting mechanism as its tentacled brethren, this inhabitant of the Indian and Pacific Oceans ups the ante by transforming the texture of its skin to match that of whatever it clings to.

6. THE MIMIC OCTOPUS (THAUMOCTOPUS MIMICUS)

Like a scene from John Carpenter's The Thing, these enigmatic octopuses take color change a step further still by not only revamping their pattern on a dime, but changing the very shape of their bodies to imitate a sea snake, lion fish, or piece of floating coral—to name but a few deep sea impressions the mimic octopus can convincingly pull off.

7. GOLDEN TORTOISE BEETLE (GENUS: CHARIDOTELLA)

Sometimes, romance is reason enough to inspire a change in hue. According to some entomologists, the golden tortoise beetle of eastern North America turns scarlet while copulating. Interestingly, they'll also do this to scare off predators when threatened: The bright red display makes many predators believe that the beetles are poisonous and that they should look elsewhere for sustenance.

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/51225/7-animals-are-better-color-changers-chameleons#ixzz2Wh2IeaVA --brought to you by mental_floss!  
If you have young visitors or kids at home this summer, they might enjoy seeing the incredible animals too.

Artist of the Day

When possible, I will post a work by each day's or week's birthday artist.

On a day like today, American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner, was born

June 21, 1859.- Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21, 1859 – May 25, 1937) was an African American artist. He was the first African American painter to gain international acclaim. In this image: Michael Gibbons, left, Jason Kourkonis, David Bruce, and Mark Knobelsdorf, preparators with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, hang Henry Ossawa Tanner's painting the Resurrection of Lazarus after it arrived from Paris' Musee d'Orsay at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 in Philadelphia.

White Tigers

The white coat of white tigers, such as these ones at Chimelong Safari Park in China, results from a change in a pigment gene. CREDIT: Chimelong Safari Park  View full size image

The strikingly beautiful, milky coats of white tigers are caused by a single change in a known pigment gene, a new study finds.

Since their discovery in the Indian jungle centuries ago, white tigers, a variant of Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris), have had a certain mystique. Captive white tigers have been inbred to preserve the recessive white coat trait, leading some to speculate the trait is a genetic defect. But the genetic basis of tiger whiteness was not known. (A recessive trait will only show up if the individual gets two genes for that trait, one from each parent.

White tigers have now disappeared from the wild. "The white tiger represents part of the natural genetic diversity of the tiger that is worth conserving, but is now seen only in captivity," study author Shu-Jin Luo of China's Peking University said in a statement. [Iconic Cats: All 9 Subspecies of Tiger] 

Luo and colleagues are calling for a captive management program to maintain both white and orange Bengal tigers, and possibly to reintroduce the cats back into the wild.

To find out the genetics responsible for white tigers' creamy hue, Luo's team mapped the genomes of a family of 16 tigers — both white and orange — in China's Chimelong Safari Park. The researchers also sequenced the full genomes of the three parent tigers. They validated their findings in 130 unrelated tigers.

The team focused on a pigment gene called SLC45A2, which is linked to light coloration in modern Europeans as well as horses, chickens and fish. The white tigers carried a variant of this gene that inhibits the production of red and yellow pigments without affecting black pigments, results showed.

The gene variant explains why the majestic cats lack the rich orange shade of their feline cousins but still have their famous dark stripes. The findings are detailed today (May 23) in the journal Current Biology.

Now that the researchers have identified the white color gene, they want to investigate how these two color varieties, white and orange, have survived through evolution.

Records of white tigers in India date back to the 1500s, Luo and colleagues say. They appear able to survive in the wild, as their primary prey, such as deer, are probably colorblind. The animals were widely hunted, and the last known free-ranging white tiger was shot in 1958.

 Habitat destruction probably contributed to the cats' decline.

Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

• Gallery: Tiger Species of the World
• Image Gallery: One-of-a-Kind Places on Earth
• In Images: Tigers Rebound in Asia

Scandalous Colors

Thomas Moran, an American painter, shocked his viewers at the end of the 19th century because of his use of color. A familiar story with a happy ending. Today, his work is appreciated for its adventurous coloration. Time helps our eyes adjust to innovations in color. 
Tulsans are fortunate to have this exhibit available. Note the arrow to the right of the picture and see more of this American colorist's works. BBL

By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer  

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The images by Thomas Moran now on display at the Gilcrease Museum were considered scandalous when they first appeared in 1876.

Not for their subject matter - the area now known as Yellowstone National Park and other locations in the American West - but for the way they were created.

"There was a lot of criticism at the time for these being 'mechanically produced,' and 'dehumanized,' " said Carole Klein, associate curator of art at Gilcrease. "It's ironic in a way because the amount of effort it took to create these images is incredible."

The images in question are a series of chromolithographs - full-colored prints created through the process of using ink on specially prepared stones - that Moran was commissioned to create for a special portfolio that was to commemorate the nation's centennial.

"Most lithographs are monochrome - the image is drawn on the stone, the ink is applied, and the print made," Klein said. "When you begin adding color, then each shade of color needs to be applied to its own individual stone. And some of these images required as many as 50 stones to create the final print."

And a few of the images on display in "Yellowstone and the West: The Chromolithographs of Thomas Moran" bear traces of Moran's handwritten notes about the quality of the color or the intensity of the values.

"Yellowstone and the West: The Chromolithographs of Thomas Moran" is organized by Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Neb., and the Denver Art Museum.

Gilcrease is the first venue to exhibit the show, which it has augmented with prints and paintings from its own collection of works by Thomas Moran.

The chromolithographs were commissioned by a Boston printer, Louis Prang. Moran created 24 watercolor paintings - using his own sketches, as well as photographs of his colleague William Henry Jackson as inspiration - of places within the Yellowstone region, as well as the Great Salt Lake in Utah, Colorado's Mountain of the Holy Cross and others.

Prang selected 15 images to be transformed into color prints. They were to be bound into a large portfolio with an essay Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden, leader of the 1871 U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Territories of which Moran and Jackson were a part.

Prang created 1,000 copies of the portfolio but sold only 100. A fire later destroyed all but 50 of the remaining copies.

The Gilcrease exhibit includes the 15 chromolithographs - some of which are on loan for the exhibit from the museum's collection - along with supporting images and photographs, such as William Henry Jackson photograph next to the painting it inspired.

In addition, Gilcrease has filled the other two rooms in the gallery with other paintings by Moran during his extensive travels through the United States and beyond.

When: Through Sept. 8

Where: Gilcrease Museum, 1400 N. Gilcrease Museum Road

Admission: $8. 918-596- 2700, 

Color Wheel Gardening

Create garden color the artist's way

AP

Berkeley, Calif., landscape architect Jeni Webber's created a floral wreath that resembles a color wheel. Long used by artists, a color wheel helps gardeners see the relationships colors have to one another, and plant accordingly.

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By Jennifer Forker

The Associated Press

Long a companion for artists, the color wheel can also be a handy tool for gardeners.

Gardening author Sydney Eddison created a wheel that has 252 colors instead of the usual 12. That’s because nature doesn’t work with a limited palette, she says.

“In nature you have already been dealt this hand. You only have to learn how to play it,” she said.

Even all of the tints, shades and tones in Eddison’s “The Gardener’s Color Wheel” don’t capture the diversity of what’s really growing out there. But she said it’s a good way to start seeing colors in the garden and how they relate to each other.

“The color wheel trains your eye to look, to really look,” said Eddison, author of six books including “The Gardener’s Palette” (Contemporary Books, 2003). “You begin to understand why certain things work, or why you like a Christmas wreath that’s red and green and why you’re happy to see purple and yellow crocuses together.”

In both examples, the two colors are complementary — opposite each other on the color wheel — and in color theory, opposites attract.

In garden planning, colors are used to create either contrast or harmony, says Eddison, who has tended 2½ acres in Newtown, Conn., for half a century.

“Contrast calls attention to itself. It gives a jolt,” said Eddison, 81. “Whereas harmony is a sigh of relief.”

Colors adjacent on the color wheel, such as the warm shades of red and orange or the cool tones of blue and green, create harmony together.

Take a color wheel into the yard to parse out particular colors. Take it to the garden center to help pick out plants for the summer.

Then play in the soil.

Eddison recommends experimenting with color in pots on the terrace.

“Don’t force a color theme on the garden,” she warns. “It has different colors at different times of the year.”

Color also changes throughout the day, depending on the light.

Eddison changes her patio pots every year, and paints her garden furniture to coordinate.

“Sometimes my color schemes are a little wild I had a Crayola color scheme one year,” she said. “People were blinded by it, but I loved it.”

“The year that I did yellow, white and yellow-green, that was terrific,” Eddison says. “And I painted the furniture yellow.”

Look to fabrics or famous artwork (Monet’s paintings, for example) for color inspiration, she suggests.

Or simply trust nature, which turns out complementary color combinations all its own, says Betina Fink, an oil painter who teaches color theory in Tucson, Ariz.

“There are these beautiful, naturally occurring complementary colors,” she said. During spring in the Southwest, for example, prickly pear cacti sport buds and blooms ranging from yellows to purples.

Jeni Webber, a Berkeley, Calif., landscape architect and Eddison’s niece, also suggests taking nature’s lead. Purple, yellow, white and soft pink constitute nature’s palette in California fields, she says, and they look great together.

“Nature doesn’t worry about things matching,” said Webber. “But usually it does.”

When planning a garden, remember that cool colors, such as blues and violets, recede, said Fink. Warm colors — reds, oranges and yellows — want to take center stage. Green — nature’s most abundant color in many places — is “the great peacemaker,” said Eddison.

“Green doesn’t call attention to itself or vanish,” Eddison said. “It helps harmonize all of the color schemes.”

An incompatible color scheme can be softened by incorporating more soothing green foliage. In particular, gray and gray-green foliage helps blend colors.

Meanwhile, a little white goes a long way in the garden, warns Eddison.

“It is the lightest and brightest and most eye-catching color in the garden,” she says. “It requires special handling.”

White works well with individual colors or combined with pastels. Low-growing white flowers, such as the tickseed plant “Star Cluster” Coreopsis, when spread throughout a garden can help the eye scan its surroundings.

Flowers come and go, but foliage often remains year-round, so plan it carefully, said Webber. She likes orange foliage, a relative newcomer, and mentions the perennial Heuchera Marmalade, a variety of coral bells.

Instead of hard and fast rules, Webber trusts her eyes to know when two plant colors clash: A bad combination hurts. “If I’m cheating and putting colors together that don’t go well together, I’ll see how my eyes are feeling,” she said.

Over decades of experimenting with color, Eddison also has found that rules can only get a gardener so far.

“As much as following the rules works, ditch them to follow your heart and soul,” she says.

Eddison’s color wheel and instructional booklet may be purchased from the publisher, The Color Wheel Co. in Philomath, Ore., online for $15. The booklet’s cover depicts a floral wreath created by Webber that emulates a color wheel

Personality Revealed in Door Color Choices

How you paint a front door reveals your personality

Did you know that the hue you use to paint a front door at your home says a lot about your personality? What do you think this blue-green front door color reveals about you? Here are the best paint colors for doors based on your disposition.
 

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Are you an introvert with an orange front door? If so, you're sending mixed messages to your friends and neighbors. Turns out that colors for doors—especially the front door—tells a lot about the occupants inside.

"An entry door painted a bold shade of orange says 'I'm friendly, fun-loving, and enjoy getting together with people' so that's the color for an extrovert and perhaps not the best choice for someone who has a more reserved personality," says color expert Kate Smith, president and chief color maven of Sensational Color. "Since the front door is the key feature on a house that offers homeowners the most flexibility in color choice, this is a good place for people to let their personality shine through."

When my husband and I were selling our former house seven years ago, we didn't stop to think about the best paint color for a front door. We just chose to paint it bright red so that it "popped" against our home with white siding and black shutters. I guess the people who bought our house liked our choice—I recently drove by the old place, and the front door is still red.

According to Smith, here's a look at what different paint colors on front entry doors of the home say about the occupants inside:

• Red tells the world to "look at me!" This bright color says I'm not afraid of standing out or saying what's on my mind. (Yup, that about sums up my husband and me. And guess what? We decided that red is the best paint color for a front door in the house where we live now, too.)
• White says that I prefer things that are organized, neat and clean. Even if my home isn't always this way, I wish it were!
• Green tells the world that you have traditional values and enjoy being a member of the community.
• Black says I'm consistent, conservative and reserved in my manner as well as my approach to color. With a black door I'm saying my design style is timeless rather than trendy.
• Blue tells people you are naturally at ease in most situations and people are attracted to your easy-going personality.
• Yellow says you have a personality similar to green, but a bit less traditional. You're most likely a leader or organizer of a group.
• Purple reveals a "free spirited" person who is comfortable taking risks, thinking differently and dreaming big. (My younger daughter has loved purple since a young age, and always had a bedroom painted purple. I guess when she eventually owns a home of her own, we can expect her to have a purple front door.)

"Homeowners should remember they don't always have to go 'bright and bold' with color on their front doors to make a positive impression," says Smith. "Muted colors like sage green, colonial blue, and copper sunset are all striking colors that enhance a home while showing your true colors.

Color Trends

BY LARA KRISTIN HERNDON |

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Image credit: Shutterstock

Emotional resonance is key to successful design. Consider color: Its influence begins in childhood, when you probably picked your favorite. "It's really multi-layered, the human reaction to color," says Courtney Garvin, an Atlanta-based graphic designer whose senior thesis at Yale concerned color theory. "There's the physical aspect--what happens optically, what happens in the brain. Then you have cultural associations, personal connotations and on and on."

Entire organizations are devoted to forecasting color trends; the best-known is the Color Institute, run by Pantone, whose color-matching system is the standard for printing and industrial design. The group selected Emerald as color of the year for 2013.

Does that mean you should have adapted your product line to feature the colors of Oz? Not if you ask Payton Cosell Turner, owner with Brian Kaspr of Flat Vernacular, a Brooklyn wallpaper studio that has been featured in Elle Decor. Chasing every color trend would be prohibitively costly for a small business like his, he explains; rolling out a new product line in the latest shades is an expensive experiment if consumers don't embrace the trend. Instead, Turner and Kaspr will test the green trend via a partnership with Scratch, a nail-art company, to produce a line of Flat Vernacular nail wraps--little patterned appliqués for fingernails. "Our initial output is nothing except creative content," Turner says.

Finding inexpensive ways to experiment with color trends is a good strategy for showing that your business is clued in to changing tastes, Garvin says, particularly in certain fields: "If you're in an industry with close ties to fashion, there's an expectation that you'll at least be aware of trends."

But it's not just for fashion or decorative arts--color comes into play in all manner of product design. "Color can be a barometer of other trends, including economic trends," Garvin says. "The classic example is the funky iMac." Launched during the late-'90s tech boom, the fruit-colored computers were a radical departure in an industry where the palette had been putty and gray.

"When the economy is strong, people will spend money on a color that's out of their comfort zone," she says. "When the economy shrinks, people make more conservative color choices. You're not going to plunk down a couple of grand on an orange sofa when times are tight--you want a color that's going to stand the test of time, not immediately feel dated."

For businesses that don't create physical products, color comes into play via branding. Garvin's advice? Understand the norms in your sector. "Know your competitors. Know the color palette," she says, citing the example of Rimidi, a client in healthcare services. "There's an expected color palette in healthcare, and if you stay within it, you send the message that you're safe, you're not rocking the boat." Most companies in that realm choose reassuring shades of safe, serious blue. "But this particular client had some new technologies that were innovative," Garvin says. "They chose to stand out. We used a bright magenta for their signature color."

Turner and Kaspr also followed their instincts. Their branding features a retro shade of pink--think Grandma's bathroom tiles--that their graphic designer tried to talk them out of. "But it's so right for us," Turner says. "People respond to it. It just works." Garvin echoes that reaction: "Nothing trumps personal preference."

Hue Can Do It

Help for the color-impaired

Check out the experts.
Each December Pantone announces the upcoming color of the year; it also releases twice-yearly fashion color reports. (PDFs are at Pantone.com.) In addition to emerald, mossy and lime greens, fall 2013 will be dominated by deep purple, bold red, Mediterranean blue and vibrant orange, rounded out by neutrals of dark gray and rich brown.

Color Marketing Group releases seasonal predictions and provides referrals to color experts with specialization in home design, printing and graphics, product design and fashion.

The Color Association analyzes trends and offers consulting in brand strategy, color differentiation in marketing or product design and metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of color strategy.