With their independently rotating eyes, color change abilities, they're pincer like feet,

they're long tongue that they project out of their mouth, and they're slow,

Deliberate (adj) /dɪˈlɪb.ər.ət/: An action carefully without hurrying

movements.1,000,000 are animals that most people would regard as highly

Charismatic (adj) /ˌkær.ɪzˈmæt.ɪk/: have an influence and attractive

. One of the centers of Chameleon diversity is Madagascar, and of the 202 chameleon
species that are currently described to science, 42%

occur on: appeared or found something

Madagascar. One of the old theories as to why chameleons change color was that
they were changing color to match their background. But what we now know is that
it's actually a communication strategy. Male male combat will

Elicit (v)  /iˈlɪs.ɪt/: giving suggestions or information to know about something.

some of the most impressive coloration from males from females. On the other hand,
if a female is

Gravid (adj) /ˈɡræv.ɪd/: having a baby or babies developing inside the womb

, or if she has eggs and is not

interested in+ V-ing: excited about something, take care of something

breeding, if a male starts to try and court her, she will display some very intense,

Vibrant (adj) /ˈvaɪ.brənt/: energetic, full of bright colour

coloration to let the male know that she's not interested. In 2015, scientists have
discovered that the superficial layer of chameleon skin has pigments in it, and under
that there are cells with small guanine crystals. Chameleons change color by actively
tuning the spacing between these guanine

Crystals (n) /ˈkrɪs.təl/: like the glass but very high quality, usually use to make
Jewelry like the watch.

, and what that does is it changes the wavelength of light that is reflected off of those
crystals and thereby changes the hue or the color of the chameleons. Now,
chameleons have always been considered a master of

Camouflage (n)  /ˈkæm.ə.flɑːʒ/: the colour of an animal mix with its natural
environment to prevent it from being seen
, and some of that is actually behavioral. When Chameleons are moving in the
branches or moving along the ground, they do a very characteristic back and forth
motion, and what they're actually doing is

Mimicking → Mimic (adj)  /ˈmɪm.ɪk/: copy the speaks, moves, shape of something.

a leaf or a branch in the wind and trying to

break up: divide something into many pieces

a typical movement pattern of an animal running from a

Predator (n)  /ˈpred.ə.tər/: an animal that hunts, kills, and eats other animals

. The chameleon tongue is actually a highly complex array of bone,

Elastic (adj) /iˈlæs.tɪk/: material is able to change (stretch) and be returned to its
original shape or size

elements and muscle. Chameleons can project their tongues up to two body lengths
from their mouth. Now this is done at speeds of about 5.8 meters per second, or about
13 miles an hour. 36% of 1,000,000 species are threatened with extinction. There are
nine species which are regarded as critically endangered and 37 species that are
regarded as endangered. The main

threats to+sb: the speaks, actions make annoyed can cause hurt or violence.

chameleons in the wild is actually habitat

Alteration (n) /ˌɒl.təˈreɪ.ʃən/: a change, usually a slight change.

and deforestation. Because some chameleons are found only in a specific type of
habitat on a single mountain, this makes them highly range restricted. But when that
range restriction is

combined with: the mixing or putting together

other pressures on their habitat, a lot of these species become endangered.

Chameleons have fascinated scientists and naturalists for centuries. It's something that
we're still learning a lot about.