Chameleon Babies | National Geographic

the flap neck chameleons of Africa
simply prep a burrow for their kids and
then they leave them to fend for
themselves first mom uses her
zygodactylous
means to toes facing forward and to
facing backward to dig a deep burrow in
the earth now that she’s created a
proper home the chameleons mom lays a
clutch of up to 30 eggs then mom covers
the eggs with a dusting of soil she’ll
never return here never meet her young
ones the eggs remain relatively safe in
the Burrow incubating in the temperature
controlled warmth provided by the earth
fast forward to a full year later the
babies are finally hatching even at this
early stage their skin pigment changes
color
contrary to popular belief chameleons
don’t change skin color as camouflage
instead their skin changes in response
to temperature light and mood chameleon
babies tend to wait till after a long
soaking rain to emerge the soil is
softer and there are more insects to eat
and if the youngsters are lucky there
are even a few oldsters to hang out with
for safety now the biggest challenge is
to find food ah this nest of spiderlings
will do nicely
now the chameleon can try out that
lightning-fast tongue of doom – ho a
perfect strike the first time out the
young chameleon with no instruction or
target practice has performed perfectly
mom would be so proud if only she could
see her sticky tongue dead-eyed
youngster now