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 ...

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 ...

Zebras and tigers have stripes, cheetahs and leopards have spots, and the ocellated lizard (Timon lepidus) boasts a labyrinthine pattern of black-and-green chains of scales. Now researchers from the ...

Skin color patterns in animals arise from microscopic interactions among colored cells that obey equations, say investigators. Researchers report that a lizard acquires its adult skin color by ...

A simple, decades-old mathematical model developed by Alan Turing can predict how subtle colour patterns will develop in a lizard’s scaly skin. Over seventy years ago, the computer scientist Alan ...