Chameleon Moms: Wandering Women | National Geographic

the flat net chameleons of Africa simply
prep a burrow for their kids and then
they leave them to fend for themselves
first mom uses her zygodactylous
that means two toes facing forward and
two 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 thirty 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 to 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 tongued dead-eyed
youngster now