The littlest chameleon.Last May, this teensy Elliot's chameleon chameleon (kəmē`lēən, –mēl`yən), small- to medium-sized lizard of the family Chamaeleonidae. About eighty species are found in sub-Saharan Africa, with a few in S Asia. (Chamaeleo ellioti) was born at the Oceanarium o·cean·ar·i·um n. pl. o·cean·ar·i·ums or o·cean·ar·i·a A large aquarium for the study or display of marine life. in Bournemouth, England. Unlike most reptiles reptiles terrestrial or aquatic vertebrates which breathe air through lungs and have a skin covering of horny scales. They are poikilothermic, oviparous or ovoviviparous, and, if they have legs they are short and constructed solely for crawling. , the chameleon--and its eight siblings--didn't arrive in eggs. The species is viviparous viviparous /vi·vip·a·rous/ (vi-vip´ah-rus) giving birth to living young which develop within the maternal body. vi·vip·a·rous adj. : Mothers give birth to fully formed live young after a 90- to 160-day pregnancy. When the tiny lizards wriggled out of the thin protective membrane that covered them at birth, they were greeted with a cheer. "We're ecstatic about the tiny new arrivals," says Oceanarium biologist Oliver Buttling. The fragile babies are housed in warm, humid hu·mid adj. Containing or characterized by a high amount of water or water vapor: humid air; a humid evening. See Synonyms at wet. conditions similar to their native western Africa. Luckily, the newborns are no fuss to feed. Within hours of birth, they hunt for themselves, flicking their long, sticky tongues to snap up small crickets. The food will help them grow up fast. This tot was only 35 millimeters long (1.5 inches) at birth. It will reach full size--125 mm (7 in.)--in just nine months. If you grew from baby to your present size in nine months, how many inches would you grow per month? |
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