News in Brief Animals

Small lizard packs powerful tongue

Rhampholeon spinosus

Like other chameleons, Rhampholeon spinosus (shown) probably achieves such astounding power and acceleration of its tongue by contracting muscles and thereby loading them with potential energy like a catapult. 

Christopher V. Anderson

By Helen Thompson

- More than 2 years ago

Size matters for chameleons and their projectile tongues.

Christopher Anderson, a biologist at Brown University in Providence, R.I., observed 20 chameleon species feeding on crickets and found that smaller lizards shot their tongues proportionally farther and faster than larger lizards.