Chameleons

Alex Re: [00:00:00] Hello, welcome to On Wildlife. I'm your host, Alex Re. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you. We take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every month, and I guarantee you you're gonna come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. Today, we're talking about one of the most unique animals on the planet.

These reptiles have extraordinary traits to help them survive in the wild, and you won't believe some of the things that they can do. So watch out for shooting tongues as we take a peek into the trees to talk about chameleons.

Chameleons are reptiles belonging to the Chamaeleonidae family, and there are 228 recognized species. They got their name from the Greek words [00:01:00] khamae, meaning on the ground, and leon, meaning lion. It's thought that they were named after lions because of the crest on their head that kind of looks like a lion's mane.

Although most chameleon species have a similar physical appearance, they come in a bunch of different colors and sizes. Many chameleon species are green, helping them to blend in with the trees and leaves around them. And probably the most widely known trait that chameleons have is their ability to change color.

But there is a large misconception about why and how they're able to do this, and we'll dive into that later on in the episode Parson's chameleon is the largest chameleon species, and adults can grow to be about 30 inches in length. The smallest species is the micro chameleon, with the scientific name Brookesia micra.

This species is mostly brown in appearance, and it doesn't change color like most [00:02:00] other species. They also don't have a crest on their head. Fully grown adults don't even grow to be an inch in length, and it's so small that we didn't even know it existed until 2012. Not only are they the smallest chameleon species, but they're the smallest reptile in the world.

You can find most chameleons living in the jungles of Africa. Some species are also native to India. Almost 60 species are native to only Madagascar. And one species, the common chameleon, can be found in Europe. Some of the countries that they're native to are Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. Pretty much every chameleon species prefers a warmer climate.

That makes sense because they're reptiles, which are all ectotherms. We've touched on this in other episodes, but animals that are ectotherms rely on the outside environment to regulate their body temperature. They'll often [00:03:00] bask in the sun in order to increase their body temperature. Chameleons also live most of their lives in trees, and they've adapted some really unique feet that assist in climbing.

Technically, they have five toes on each foot, but they're actually fused together. On each of their limbs, they have two groups of toes, one group with two toes and the other group with three toes. You can tell at one time in their evolutionary history these toes were separate because they still have all of their claws to show for it.

These toe groupings really allow them to strongly grasp onto tree branches, and their claws help to give them a better grip. Chameleons also have prehensile tails, which means that they can grab onto trees with them like another limb. Pretty much every body part of the chameleon has a weird adaptation, including its tongue, and we'll talk about that right after the break.[00:04:00]

On this episode, I want to give a shout-out to Connor from the UK. He suggested that we do an episode on chameleons because his favorite animal is Jackson's chameleon. Thanks so much for your suggestion, Connor. If you want to support our podcast, you should subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/onwildlife.

For just three bucks a month, you can get access to exclusive episodes and get early access to our regular episodes. That's patreon.com/onwildlife. Okay, now back to the episode. Most chameleons are insectivores, meaning they only eat insects. Some of their favorite insects to eat are grasshoppers, crickets, and stick bugs.

Some species have been known to eat lizards and even some small birds, but they're in the minority. If you've ever [00:05:00] tried to catch a grasshopper, you'd know that they're pretty fast, but the chameleon is faster. A chameleon's tongue is coiled around a modified bone in its mouth called the hyoid bone, and it's basically shaped like a stick Humans also have a hyoid bone located in our necks, but ours is there to help us swallow, talk, and breathe.

Ours is also shaped like the letter U. When chameleons lock onto their prey, they squeeze their tongue muscles to prepare it to be shot out of their mouth. Then they relax the tongue, causing it to extend out of their mouth at extremely high speeds towards the insect that they're trying to catch. The rosette-nosed pygmy chameleon can shoot its tongue out at 8,500 feet per second, which is faster than a bullet.

On the tip of their tongues, chameleons have a sticky surface that acts like a suction cup, so when their tongue hits its prey, the prey is stuck [00:06:00] onto it. The chameleon then brings its tongue back into its mouth, along with whatever the tongue landed on. And they don't have to be too close for this to work, as their tongues can extend to over two and a half times the length of their bodies.

But how do they find their prey to begin with? A lot of insects are pretty well camouflaged to their environments. Well, that just brings me to another awesome characteristic that chameleons have, their eyes. Chameleons' eyes are able to move independently of each other. They can see in two different directions at the same time.

And when they find their target, they both lock onto the same spot, so they're able to calculate the exact place where they need to shoot their tongue. Scientists actually just recently discovered that chameleons have coiled optic nerves. Optic nerves connect from the eyes to the brain to help process the information that your eyes pick up.

Optic nerves in [00:07:00] animals that have them are usually straight, like a wire, but the coiled optic nerves give chameleons' eyes a wider range of movement without them ever having to turn their heads. This adaptation is definitely helpful in finding prey, but it also allows them to be on the lookout for predators.

Some of their main predators are snakes, birds, monkeys, and lemurs. If you ever watch a chameleon move, you'll notice that they're very slow, so they won't outrun an animal trying to eat them. Their slow movement is actually an advantage. It works well with their main predator avoidance strategy, camouflage.

Most chameleon species are shades of green, brown, or yellow. This allows them to blend in with the trees and leaves that they reside on. And contrary to popular belief, chameleons don't change color to blend in with their surroundings like an octopus would. They mainly change [00:08:00] color to communicate with each other, whether that be to attract a mate or to tell a rival to stay away from them.

They'll change colors when they're stressed, excited, aggravated, and more, so they're basically like a walking mood ring. Studies also suggest that they can change color to regulate their body temperature. Remember that because chameleons are reptiles, they're ectotherms, meaning that they rely on the outside environment to regulate their body temperature.

They can turn themselves darker in order to absorb more sunlight, warming themselves up. And if they need to cool down, they can turn themselves a lighter color so that they can reflect more sunlight. The way that chameleons change color is really hard to believe, and it's actually different than the way other animals like octopuses and cuttlefish do it.

For a while, we did think it worked just like an octopus. They both have pigment cells located under their skin that are different colors like red and [00:09:00] yellow. An octopus is able to change color by expanding and condensing the melanin in these cells, causing them to become lighter and darker. But what we didn't know until very recently is that under these pigment cells, chameleons have tiny crystals that are connected to each other.

These crystals are able to reflect light, so the color that you're seeing is actually the light that gets reflected by the crystals and passes through those pigment cells. Chameleons are able to increase and decrease the amount of space between the crystals. When this happens, the crystals reflect a different color, and that changes what we see.

It's almost unbelievable. Okay, let's take our last break, and when we get back, we'll talk about chameleon reproduction.

Time for today's trivia [00:10:00] question. Which of these is not an animal? Coral, a mosquito, or a Venus flytrap?

The answer is a Venus flytrap, which is a plant. Did you know that Venus flytraps are only native to North Carolina? Okay, now back to the episode. Now, I mentioned earlier that chameleons can change color for mating purposes. This helps males stand out more to attract a mate. And some research shows that males that can make a variety of different colors, as well as more vibrant colors, will be selected more often as a mate by females.

This makes sense because more prominent traits show the female that the male is healthy and will have healthy offspring Male chameleons are very territorial, often fighting each other to defend an area or to win mating rights [00:11:00] over a female. Individuals of one species, called Jackson's chameleon, have three horns on their head, one right above their mouth and one above each eye.

They use these horns to fight each other for a territory, and only the males have them. When female chameleons are ready to lay their eggs, they head toward the ground. They dig small holes and bury them. Most chameleon species lay eggs, but some, like Jackson's chameleon, are actually ovoviviparous, meaning that the female keeps the eggs inside of her body until they're ready to hatch.

Females can lay anywhere from two to 100 eggs, depending on the species. Parson's chameleon eggs can take two years to hatch. Like most reptiles, chameleons don't care for their young. As soon as they hatch, they're on their own. Not only do chameleons have tons of cool adaptations, but they help to keep the food web in [00:12:00] their ecosystem healthy.

They keep insect populations down by eating them, as well as being a food source for multiple different prey species. Unfortunately, almost 40% of chameleon species are listed as threatened or worse by the IUCN Red List. Their biggest problem is habitat loss. Remember earlier in the episode when I mentioned that around 60 species are only native to Madagascar?

Well, Madagascar has lost about 25% of its tree cover since 2002. Chameleons are mainly arboreal, so they rely on these trees for survival. And because of their pretty docile nature, chameleons are also one of the most sought-after reptiles in the illegal pet trade. This is a huge problem because poachers are taking chameleons out of their habitats and selling them, with no regard for the animal or the impact it can have on its environment.

[00:13:00] So make sure to call out anything that you see online when it seems like somebody has an animal that they're not supposed to have. Also, there are great organizations dedicated to helping chameleons, like Chameleon Center Conservation, Wildlife Madagascar, and Ark Environmental Restoration that you can go support.

Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explored the world of chameleons. You can find the sources that we used for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference at onwildlife.org. You can also email us with any questions at onwildlife.podcast@gmail.com, and you can follow us on Instagram at on_wildlife or on TikTok at onwildlife.

And don't forget to tune in next month for another awesome episode. And that's On [00:14:00] Wildlife.