Changing colors.

People come in a wonderful variety of different colors. the colors include shades of pink, yellow, red, brown, and black.

Where do all these colors come from? In this case, the answer is only skin deep! Here's how it works:

Your skin is made up of many layers. The first five layers are called the epidermis (ep-i-DER-mis). The top four of these layers protect your body. The bottom layer of the epidermis gives your skin its color. It contains special cells called melanocytes (MEL-an-oh-sites). They produce a brown substance called melanin (MEL-an-in).

People with lighter skin have melanocytes that don't produce as much melanin. Darker-skinned people have melanocytes that produce a lot of melanin. Your skin color is determined by how active your melanocytes are.

Sunlight also causes your melanocytes to produce more melanin. We call this darkening a tan. The extra melanin in a tan acts as a shield to protect your body from harmful sunlight.

Some animals change color, too. Chameleons are probably the best known of these animals.

Chameleons have a three-layered epidermis. The outer layer is red and yellow. Another layer is blue and white. If the lizard walks onto a orange stick, the outer layer of red and yellow cells expands. Since red and yellow combine to make orange, the lizard turns orange!

A chameleon also changes color when it gets scared or angry. A very angry chameleon will turn almost black!