Cool Chameleon Facts

 Cool Chameleon Facts

1. Chameleons are lizards, and lizards are reptiles, like snakes, crocodiles, and tortoises. There are about 4,000 kinds of lizards altogether, including around 120 different chameleons.

2.  Their skin is wrinkly and bumpy, and they’ve got big bulgy eyes, while lots of them have the most ridiculous noses!

3. Their mouths are pretty odd, too. They turn down at the corners, which is why chameleons always look grumpy.

4. A chameleon’s feet are shaped like pincers for holding onto branches tightly.

5. Most of a chameleon’s eye is covered in skin, like the rest of its body.

6. There’s a tiny peephole in the middle that the chameleon sees through.

7. Most lizards gulp their food down without chewing it, but chameleons grind everything up thoroughly!

8. Now, peering about is something chameleons are rather good at. That’s because their eyes can move separately from each other, unlike our eyes, which always move together. So while one eye is looking back over the chameleon’s shoulder, the other one is scanning the branches ahead. As soon as it spots something tasty, the chameleon fixes both eyes on its prey and begins to creep forward - even more slowly than usual.

9. Then it opens its mouth just a crack, and Out shoots this amazingly long tongue with a sticky tip at the end, like a piece of well-chewed chewing gum.

10. A chameleon will fight only with the same kind of chameleon as itself.

11. Some lizards eat bananas - chameleons don’t. Some lizards walk upside down on the ceiling chameleons can’t. There’s even a lizard that glides from tree to tree- a chameleon certainly wouldn’t do that! But of all the different kinds of lizards, chameleons are the best.

12 .The biggest is only about the size of a small cat. It’s called Oustalet’s chameleon and it lives in Madagascar.

13. They can be really, really small, though. The smallest one could balance happily on your little finger. It’s called the Dwarf Brookesia, and it lives in Madagascar too.

14. Whatever their size, chameleons usually get sick and die if kept as pets. They’re much better off in the wild.

15. Lots of people think chameleons change color to match their surroundings. They don’t! They change color when they’re angry, or when they’re too cold or too hot, or when they’re sick. And there are some sorts of chameleons that hardly change color at all.

16. Veiled chameleons are able to look in any direction without turning their heads or shifting body position because each eye can swivel nearly 180°.
Chameleons are really cool.