Chameleons

This group gathers Reptiles subcategory members belonging to the family Chamaeleonidae, the chameleons, an Old World lizard lineage concentrated in Madagascar and mainland Africa with a smaller number of species in southern Europe and Asia. It spans the panther chameleon and Jackson's chameleon, both widely kept in captivity and prized for the males' horns or dramatic color displays, the veiled chameleon, a hardy and adaptable species native to Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and the Malagasy giant chameleon, among the largest chameleon species in the world. Every species gathered here shares the family's signature traits: independently swiveling, turret-like eyes that give near 360-degree vision, a projectile tongue that can exceed the animal's own body length to snatch insect prey in a fraction of a second, and, in most species, the ability to shift skin color for camouflage, temperature regulation and communication rather than, as popular belief holds, simply to match any background.