Chameleons are so well-known for their ability to blend into any environment that the species' name is included in the dictionary under a separate, but highly related definition, "a changeable, fickle, or inconstant person." (How many other animals can claim that?)

Recent research studied how a chameleon's ability to change its skin color - typically thought of as a way to hide from predators -- is also a way to intimidate members of its own kind, CBS News reported.

Arizona State scientists found that the way a chameleon changed its colors and/or the pattern of its natural skin pattern was a better predictor of how successfully it would defend its territory than size or physical prowess, according to CBS.

Forty five veiled chameleons native to the mountains of the Middle East were placed in a series of one-on-one competitions, round-robin style you might say. They were given thirty minutes to win their territory. In confrontations that didn't involve fighting (head butting, biting, etc.), the lizards with the brightest colors tended to prevail. When chameleons got physical, those that changed colors more quickly and had brighter markings on the tops of their head usually won, according to CBS.

But what is bright to a human and bright to a chameleon could mean two different things, which is why researchers simulated chameleon vision when analyzing the battles. The results held.

"This is the first time that anyone has been able to use the visual system of an animal to analyze color change during the behavioral contexts in which such color changes are used," study co-author Russell Ligon said.

Ligon and his fellow researchers believe chameleons have an eye for color and are intimidated by brighter patterns. They don't truly understand how chameleons establish their own rank. Perhaps they don't and by instinct avoid others with unusually exotic markings, according to Ligon.

"It's possible that there is some overall template that the chameleons can recognize and place other individuals on that scale, possibly for them to get a sense for how worthwhile it might be to continue to pursue an interaction or call it off," Ligon said.

Scientists have known about this behavior before, but the results are provactive nonetheless -- especially the way Ligon and his team simulated chameleon vision, according to CBS.

They hope to repeat their results by manipulating the lizards' colors themselves. That would not only solidify their findings, but uncover just how strong a chameleon's natural instincts are in terms of color identification.