Chameleon - message report. Chameleons
Chameleon Report on the topic Animals. The world 2nd grade.
The chameleon is a unique animal. He is able to change color. Not only that: one side of a chameleon can be, for example, bright red, and the other green. By changing color, the chameleon blends in with surrounding objects and thus becomes invisible.
If he is angry or alarmed, the chameleon very quickly “recolors”. His skin turns black. The animal inflates, doubles its normal size, hisses like a snake and shows a bright red mouth.
The chameleon changes color depending on humidity, light and even temperature. Its color may change when it is hungry, scared, irritated, or thirsty.
Unique chameleon Report
He can look back with one eye and forward with the other. Only a chameleon is able to see everything around it without turning its head. No other animal is capable of this.
As a rule, his movements are slow. But if necessary, he is able to show extraordinary speed and agility. A chameleon can jump from branch to branch. But on the ground he moves awkwardly, with his legs spread wide and leaning on his tail. And in water he is not able to move at all, but he does not drown.
A chameleon's toes are more like claws. They help the animal hold tightly onto thin tree branches and move along them. It can hang from trees using its tail. Its tail is wide at the base, but gradually tapers towards the end. A chameleon can twist it in a spiral and even wrap it around branches or a tree trunk.
Chameleon food
Chameleon feeding different insects and small invertebrates. The largest chameleons eat small lizards and birds.
The animal grabs food with its tongue. His tongue is very long. In some species, the length of the elongated tongue is greater than the length of the body. With its help, the chameleon deftly grabs insects at a fairly considerable distance without moving from its place.
The chameleon does not usually chase its prey. He waits motionless until the prey itself approaches the required distance. If necessary, it slowly moves towards the victim until the distance to it reaches the length of its tongue. Then he slightly opens his mouth, quickly throws out his tongue and returns it back along with the captured prey. The tongue is covered with a viscous secretion that can stick to the victim and is forked at the end. Therefore, a chameleon can grab food as if with tweezers.
A chameleon can lick off dew with its tongue.
Chameleons can “dance”. On the ground or on a branch, the chameleon first freezes motionless, rotating only its eyes. He then slowly lifts one front leg and the opposite hind leg and rocks back and forth rhythmically. Having stepped once, he again freezes in place, raising the second pair of legs and repeats everything again. At the same time, he continuously rotates his eyes - back, forward, up, down. Scientists think that this is how chameleons communicate with each other.
Some people are compared to chameleons. They say: He changes like a chameleon. This means that a person can change beyond recognition depending on the situation.
Chameleons belong to the class Reptiles. The average size is 30 centimeters. The largest are from 50 to 60 centimeters, the smallest do not exceed 5 centimeters. They live from 4 to 10 years. They prefer an arboreal lifestyle. Quite long legs. Chameleons have strange vision. They have fused eyelids that envelop the eyeballs, but leave holes for the pupils.
They live in the region of Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, and may also be in North Africa, Southern Europe, the Middle East, Southern India, Sri Lanka, California, Florida and Hawaii. They live in the tropics, savannas and deserts. The chameleon feeds on all sorts of insects, snakes, lizards, as well as some berries and vegetables. There is one exception to the diet: a chameleon will never hunt poisonous or stinging creatures, such as bees.
The main feature of chameleons
It's time to talk about why these lizards became famous. They have a special ability to change body color. As a rule, skin color is adjusted to the object they are standing next to. This gift was given to them thanks to special cells - chromaftors. Color changes due to temperature, light, humidity, hunger, thirst and fear. The purpose of this behavior is to scare away enemies and communicate with their relatives.
Amazing facts about chameleons
The viewing angle of chameleons is equal to all 360 degrees!
The chameleon's tongue is 2 times longer than the lizard itself.
With the exception of mating, representatives do not want to see each other, which means they are considered loners.
Chameleons are practically the worst parents. When the baby is born, the adults immediately abandon their babies.
There are no ears, however, there is hearing, but it is very weak.
Another reason for the change in color is a demonstration of emotions, and not camouflage, as many say.
Unlike other reptiles, chameleons do not regenerate their tail when lost.
When chameleons are excited or scared, they swell.
When a chameleon sleeps, it does not control the color change.
The word “chameleon” is translated from ancient Greek as “earth lion”.
Report 2
Chameleons are reptiles. This reptile can camouflage itself using a range of colors.
A chameleon is a small lizard, which is about 20 cm in length, but there are small specimens up to 3 cm in size. There are about 160 species of chameleons, of which 59 can be found only in Madagascar.
A chameleon can change its color when it senses fear. Since his skin is transparent, and under it there are cells of black, yellow and red colors. When he feels afraid nervous system sends a signal to the cells responsible for color, and the chameleon becomes the same color as the surface on which it is located. A chameleon can only acquire surface color, but not an ornament or pattern.
The chameleon has very interesting eyes, they spin in circles and have a much wider range of vision than a human. When hunting an insect, only its eyes and tongue move when it already catches its prey.
You can keep a chameleon instead pet, you just need to provide proper care and space.
Chameleon at home
The small reptile can be kept in captivity. To do this, you need to buy a medium-sized terrarium.
When purchasing a chameleon for your home, you need to know that not all chameleons can live in captivity. Only three types of reptiles can become inhabitants of the house: Yemeni, leopard and common.
Before choosing a chameleon for your home, you need to find out where it is best to buy and it is advisable to consult with a specialist.
Let's return to the terrarium, it should resemble an exotic forest, then it will be easier for the lizard to acclimatize. Chameleon needs a lot of light natural environment he loves the sun and its warmth very much. In addition to the furnishings of the terrarium, you need to take care of the convenience of timely cleaning, since the health of the lizard is very dependent on cleanliness.
A chameleon is a hunter by nature, but if you take into account that it will be kept in a terrarium, then you need to acquire (buy) insects, such as: grasshoppers, flies, cockroaches, butterflies, dragonflies, mealworms.
Chameleons are not simple by nature, and before purchasing, you should take the time to review the care literature.
They are unique and have their own character, but their color can delight and entertain all guests and family.
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Chameleon is one of the most interesting lizards peace. It frightens and delights, surprises and fascinates. He's like a creature from another planet. Amazing, mysterious, bizarre, exotic...He is ridiculous and at the same time fantastically beautiful. Chameleons are known to people mainly due to their unusual ability. .
Chameleons live in only a few places on the planet, namely in Africa, India, the Arabian Peninsula, the Mediterranean, the island of Madagascar, and also in Sri Lanka. The real kingdom of dinosaur descendants is located in East Africa. 1/3 of all chameleons in the world live here. Most often they can be found in tropical forests and in savannas, less often in deserts and steppes.
Although chameleons (Latin Chamaeleonidae) belong to the family of lizards, they have little in common with them. The body of chameleons is flattened on the sides, the arched back is decorated with a crest, making the reptiles seem eternally hunched over. In some species, the head of a bizarre pyramidal shape is crowned with a crest, while others have outgrowths on the muzzle that resemble horns. True, for the most part males can boast of such decorations; in females they are less pronounced.
Whatever part of the chameleon we did not undertake to consider, it will be unusual.
The chameleon's secret weapon is the tongue.
Scientists struggled with the phenomenon of a chameleon's tongue for many years until they managed to film it using a super-high-speed camera. It turns out that the chameleon charges its tongue with energy in advance, in preparation for the shot. When starting a hunt, the reptile gives its tongue a shape that promotes acceleration. Just imagine, the acceleration of a chameleon's tongue during ejection is more than 250 times greater than the acceleration of free fall! Scientists even called the chameleon’s tongue the most advanced, effective and at the same time easy to operate “catapult.” To reach the victim, the reptile's tongue takes only 1/20th of a second. In 3 seconds the animal is able to catch four insects.
The chameleon's tongue is extremely powerful with cartilage inside and is slightly sticky at the tip. In the reptile's mouth it folds like a spring. When a chameleon takes aim at a prey, it sticks out the tip of its tongue slightly, as if blowing a bubble gum, and shoots sharply at the prey. It happens, of course, that it misses, but in most cases the accuracy of aiming does not fail.
It was also noticed interesting feature: the smaller the chameleon itself, the “faster” and longer its tongue relative to the length of its body. This is explained by the fact that “microchameleons” constantly need to replenish their bodies with food and energy; when hunting, they have no room for error.
It should be noted that a chameleon's tongue can be injured. It happens that during a hunt a reptile bites its tongue.
Mysterious eyes of a chameleon
The chameleon sees everything, everywhere. Are the eyes of a chameleon independent of each other, in other words, do they live a separate life? Israeli scientists asked this question. As a result of the experiments, it turned out that the reptile's eyes do not always move independently of each other, as previously thought, but are capable of focusing on one object. The reptile can watch two objects at the same time, but as soon as the chameleon chooses a target to shoot, both eyes focus on it. Scientists believe that such a vision device helps chameleons hunt more successfully and calculate the exact distance to the prey.
In arid and food-poor areas, every “miss” reduces the chances of survival. An important feature of the chameleon is accuracy: to examine the prey and estimate the distance to it. This is facilitated by the design of the eyes, which not only move independently of each other, but in addition each eye can be used as optical sight or a sighting tube that determines the distance. The eye thus equipped accurately determines the distance to the victim by focusing the image. Most likely, this is due to the eye's accommodation of up to 45 diopters. To do this, lizards, in the process of evolution, improved the lens of the eye with the so-called scattering lens. Now it not only magnifies the image of the prey on the retina, but also provides a depth of field greater than that of vertebrates with conventional collective lenses.
Due to the fact that the reptile's eyes almost completely cover the fused eyelids, leaving only a small hole in the center for the pupil, they appear bulging and resemble telescopic tubes.
In general, the eyes are a problem area for chameleons. Most of diseases in these animals are associated specifically with the eyes. Due to the narrow palpebral fissure, eye infections are difficult to treat. They are very sensitive and often get injured. Therefore, there should be no sharp branches in the terrarium, otherwise the chameleon may damage its eyes.
The main attraction of a chameleon is its tail.
Looking at the chameleon to the tip of its tail, one cannot help but notice how beautifully it twists it into a spiral. Thick at the base and tapering towards the tip, the tail serves as the chameleon's fifth leg (or arm?). It can tightly wrap its tail around any object on which it sits. The tail supports the weight of the chameleon's body: the reptile can hang on tree branches, hooked on its spirally twisted tail.
Another unusual thing about chameleons is that they do not have ears, although these reptiles can perceive sounds at frequencies from 200 to 600 Hertz.
Whimsical chameleon dances
The chameleon's paws are also not quite ordinary. At first glance, it may seem that these reptiles are two-toed creatures. In fact, they have 5 fingers on each paw, but during evolution they have grown together in 2 and 3. Notice how tenacious and dexterous their paws are. They can even be compared to claws, with the help of which it is very convenient for the animal to move along the branches.
The movements of reptiles are peculiar. Slowly moving one front leg forward and strengthening it, the chameleon releases the end of the tail with which it was holding onto the branch. Which of the remaining limbs the animal will move after the first can only be guessed, since the reptile uses its paws out of any sequence. Sometimes, for example, both right paws move alternately, in other cases the front and back paws of opposite sides.
Sitting on a branch, the reptile freezes, while slowly rotating its eyes. Then the animal smoothly raises one hind and one front paw into the air and begins to swing rhythmically back and forth. Having taken a step and again frozen in place, the reptile raises another pair of legs and continues to swing. At the same time, the eyes also perform their “dance”, rotating up, down, forward and backward. The nature of such movements is not entirely clear, but scientists suggest that these are signal body movements intended for individuals of the same species to recognize each other.
It seems that the chameleon is a slow and clumsy animal, but this is just an appearance. Limited by the size of the terrarium, he cannot demonstrate how fast he can move.
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Amazing and original creatures with unusual features and behavior unique to them. Their name dates back to ancient times. chameleon. This was the name of strange animals that could change their appearance.
Features and habitat
IN given time There are about 193 species of chameleons in nature. Their main habitat is the island of Madagascar. In addition, meet chameleon animal possible at African continent, in the Arabian Peninsula, India, California and Florida.
Character and lifestyle
Chameleons spend their entire lives among trees and in their foliage. They descend to the ground in extremely rare cases - during mating season and when treats are noticed on her. The claw-like limb serves a great assistant when moving through trees and greatly interferes with the animal on the ground.
This phlegmatic animal is very lazy. The chameleon prefers to lead a sedentary lifestyle. It can sit on one branch for a long time, grasping it with its claw and tail. A possible threat can force the animal to suddenly take off. At such moments, chameleons run beautifully and jump skillfully.
There are many of their enemies in nature. When meeting some predators, large lizards and snakes, the chameleon, sensing danger, swells up, as during a thunderstorm, and takes a defensive position.
Its color also changes dramatically accordingly. The animal begins to make snorting and hissing sounds, and even tries to bite its enemy, which is not very successful due to its weak teeth.
IN Lately people like to have exotic animals. Chameleon like pet is just one of them. This beautiful creature must be kept in a terrarium. This doesn't require much hassle. The main thing is to initially create appropriate conditions for the pet and periodically clean its home.
Nutrition
The chameleon's diet consists of grasshoppers, crickets, butterflies, small lizards and. Chameleons, which are larger in size, prefer to hunt rodents, birds and small animals. Sometimes the animal’s menu is diluted with tree fruits and leaves.
Even when very hungry, he does not hunt insects that can sting him. The chameleon has never eaten wasps or bees. He loves tangerines and oranges very much.
Cherries, grapes, persimmons and kiwis, vegetables and herbs are also his favorite delicacies. This makes caring for them at home easier for those who decide buy a chameleon.
Reproduction and lifespan
It is preferable for this animal to live alone. But sometimes there are families consisting of one male and several females. Chameleons reproduce twice a year.
In order to possess a female, the male must win a fierce struggle with his rival. Sometimes such competitions can result in serious injuries and even the death of the weaker chameleon. After mating, the ground-dwelling female lays 15-60 eggs, burying them in the soil.
Those that live on branches cling their clutches to them. After the incubation period, babies are born who quickly adapt to external environment. Chameleons do not live long, no more than 5 years. But among them there are also long-livers, whose life expectancy is about 15 years.
Chameleons are one of the strangest and most unusual creatures on earth. The name comes from the Latin "chamaelon" which means "lion of the earth". One of their unusual abilities is to change their color. We present interesting facts about chameleons.
Habitat
Despite the fact that chameleons are not found in Russia, they are quite common reptiles. They live in African deserts, tropics, savannah, southern Europe, southern India, and there are small populations in Hawaii, California and Florida.
These funny animals, like any cold-blooded creatures, prefer warmth. They are most often found in Madagascar, where most of the 200 species known to us live. The most interesting Madagascar species is the most little chameleon, which is also the smallest vertebrate animal, its length does not exceed one and a half centimeters.
This is often not helped by its color camouflage - their population is declining due to deforestation. Currently, 10 species are threatened with extinction, and 20 may disappear in the near future.
Appearance
Chameleon - interesting facts about appearance. The largest species is considered Parson's chameleon, its maximum size 75 centimeters. The smallest species is the leaf chameleon, it can easily fit on the tip of a finger, its maximum size is one and a half centimeters. This species is also considered the smallest vertebrate.
Chameleons change their color for camouflage, temperature regulation, and expression of emotions; color also depends on health and lighting. Typically, chameleons can change color from brown to green, but there are species that can turn other colors. The color change occurs in 15 seconds.
The long tail, when at rest, curls like a watch spring. A chameleon cannot restore its lost tail.
A chameleon's eyes can move independently of each other, they are sensitive to ultraviolet light, and when exposed to ultraviolet light they become more active.
The length of the tongue is amazing; it is 2 times the length of the chameleon’s body. When hunting prey, these predators can fire their tongues at high speed. The prey is attached to the tongue and moves at high speed into the predator's mouth. When a chameleon catches prey with its tongue, it closes its eyes so as not to damage them with rapidly rushing food.
Males are usually brighter in color and have horny projections or large ridges on their heads.
The American chameleon is not a species of chameleon, it is a common iguana and is also capable of changing color.
When a chameleon is scared, it swells and increases in size.
Cannot control color changes during sleep. Chameleons change color due to special cells - chromatophores, they contain the necessary pigment.
Features of the body
Visual abilities - the chameleon's viewing angle is 360 degrees, it can look in two opposite directions.
Diet of chameleons. Chameleons usually feed on insects, but larger ones may eat a bird or lizard. Chameleons are bad parents; after birth they leave offspring, and the cubs learn to live and survive on their own.
Chameleons do not have ears, or rather they do not have a middle and outer ear, but they hear everything.
Chameleon saliva is 500 times more viscous than human saliva. Probably, this property helps to “glue” insects caught by a predator to the tongue.
The average life expectancy in nature is about 4 years. In captivity they can live up to 10 years.
Chameleons are lizards that lay eggs. But there are also viviparous species; they give birth to small babies in special pouches.
Typically eggs take about two months to incubate, but for Parson's chameleon, it can take up to two years. Parson's chameleons can live up to 20 years.
Scientists have still not been able to figure out why chameleons sway when moving, but many believe that this is how they disguise themselves as branches swaying in the wind.
The chameleon climbs trees well, its legs are well adapted for this.
Chameleons are often kept as pets. We must not forget, no matter how well cared for, this is not a dog that becomes attached to a person. The place of wild animals is in nature. At home, although comfortable conditions, they suffer because they lack freedom, communication with fellow humans, and a cage, even though it is golden, still remains a cage.
