What if you picked up a lizard and realized there was something more under its skin? The scales of the ocellated lizard form labyrinthine patterns of black and green. This species probably evolved its ...

A lizard’s intricately patterned skin follows rules like those used by a simple type of computer program. As the ocellated lizard (Timon lepidus) grows, it transforms from a drab, polka-dotted ...

In vertebrates, skin colour patterns emerge from nonlinear dynamical microscopic systems of cell interactions. Here we show that in ocellated lizards a quasi-hexagonal lattice of skin scales, rather ...

Can a reptile compute? In one species of lizard, Timon lepidus, the colour and pattern of its scales evolve in a manner akin to a discrete rule-based computation called a cellular automaton. See ...

As adults, ocellated lizards (Timon lepidus) sport a convoluted pattern of black and green on their backs. Colour patterns aren’t rare in animals, but the ocellated lizard develops its labyrinthine ...