What makes a chameleon different from other animals

Once the prey sticks to the tongue, the chameleon draws it back into the mouth, where its strong jaws crush it for swallowing. Even small chameleons are able to eat large insects. The tongue is kept bunched up at the back of the mouth until it is needed again.

The chameleon's changing skin color plays an important role in communication among individuals. It changes under the influence of the lizard's mood, such as fear or anger, the amount of light, and the temperature or humidity.

Males that can make themselves brighter are more dominant and attract more females. A submissive male displays brown or gray. Females use their colors to accept or reject a male; their color display can also signal a pregnancy. Nesting instinct. Most female chameleons lay eggs. The number of eggs laid varies.

When the eggs are ready to be laid, the female climbs down to the ground and digs a hole. She deposits the eggs in the hole, buries them, and leaves the nesting site. During incubation, the eggs absorb water from the earth and can gain up to 0. There are a few chameleons, such as the Jackson's chameleon, that are viviparous. A few days after the young hatch or are born, they begin to hunt insects.

They instinctively know how to survive without a parent to teach them. The hatchlings look like miniature adults, except that their coloration and markings are not as bright. They grow quickly, and many reach sexual maturity before the end of their first year.

The Jackson's chameleon is native to the humid, cooler regions of Africa's Kenya and Tanzania. It is usually found in great numbers in mountainous areas. One subspecies was introduced to Hawaii in the s and has since grown into a large, feral population. The Jackson's chameleon is a small- to medium-sized chameleon best known for its sawtooth-shaped dorsal ridge.

The female Jackson's chameleon is one of the few chameleons that give live birth instead of laying eggs—from 8 to 30 live young after a 5- to 6-month gestation period. Jackson's chameleons are sometimes called three-horned chameleons because males have three brown horns the females usually have no horns. The horns are used to defend territory. On a narrow tree branch, males may lock horns and try to push the other off.

Jackson's chameleons are usually bright green, with some traces of blue and yellow, and are usually less territorial than most species of chameleons. Madagascar is home to nearly two-thirds of all chameleon species. Three of those— Belalanda chameleon Furcifer belalandaensis , bizarre-nosed chameleon Calumma hafahafa , and Namoroka leaf chameleon Brookesia bonsi —are at critical risk, losing their habitat to slash-and-burn agricultural practices, logging for construction or charcoal, and cattle grazing.

Number of young: Small chameleons lay 2 to 4 eggs, large varieties lay 80 to eggs. Those that give birth to live young produce 8 to 30 young. View all mammal worksheets. View all marine life worksheets. View all insect worksheets. View all Bird worksheets. View all natural world worksheets. View all earth science worksheets. View all biology worksheets. View all space worksheets. View all science worksheets.

View all animal worksheets. View all Addition Worksheets. View all Numbers Worksheets. View all Money Worksheets. Click the button below to get instant access to these worksheets for use in the classroom or at a home. This download is exclusively for KidsKonnect Premium members! To download this worksheet, click the button below to signup it only takes a minute and you'll be brought right back to this page to start the download! Sign Me Up. Editing resources is available exclusively for KidsKonnect Premium members.

To edit this worksheet, click the button below to signup it only takes a minute and you'll be brought right back to this page to start editing! Sign Up. This worksheet can be edited by Premium members using the free Google Slides online software. Females use their colors to accept or reject a suitor, and their color can also indicate that she is pregnant.

A new study has found that chameleons can rapidly change color by adjusting special cells, called iridophore cells, in each layer. The chameleons can change the structural arrangement of the upper cell layer by relaxing or exciting the skin, which leads to a change in color, researchers found.

They typically stay in trees or bushes, though some species do live on the ground. For example, the horned leaf chameleon lives in dead leaves on forest floors according to the National Wildlife Federation.

Most chameleons have a prehensile tail that they use to wrap around tree branches. Their hands and feet have large toes that help them cling to branches. Besides changing skin color, chameleons have another feature that no other animals have. Their eyes can move independently of each other, enabling them to look in two different directions at once.

Chameleons have a full degree view and can focus their eyes quickly and enlarge what they are looking at like a camera lens. Chameleons are loners. In fact, most of the time females don't want males to even come near them. During the rare moments when the female is willing to be touched, the male will approach for mating. A brighter colored male chameleon is more likely to convince a female to mate than a duller colored male.

Chameleons eat insects and birds. To catch their prey, they creep along very slowly.