Dear Kitty. Some blog

July 1, 2008

New discoveries on Madagascar chameleons [Reptiles, Biology] — Administrator @ 10:14 am


This is a video about Furcifer pardalis, a related chameleon species, in Frankfurt zoo in Germany.

From British daily The Guardian:

Madagascar lizard: Chameleon that lives mostly as an egg is found

* Ian Sample, science correspondent

* Tuesday July 1, 2008

A species of chameleon that spends most of its short life as an egg has been discovered by conservationists in Madagascar. The unusual reptile, known as Labord’s chameleon, develops inside an egg for up to nine months, but after hatching lives only a few months longer, during which it rapidly matures, mates and dies.

Because the chameleons all hatch at the same time, the entire population is the same age, apart from a very brief period when adults are still alive after laying their eggs. The life cycle is more akin to that of insects than reptiles or any other four-legged vertebrate, researchers said.

See also here. And here.

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