Sticky Surprise

THE chameleon has a ‘striking’ talent. The moment it spots a likely prey, the chameleon shoots out its tongue at lightning speed and snags it. Its tongue is twice as long as its body and the chameleon keeps it folded inside its mouth.

Since it doesn’t wrap its tongue around its prey, how does a chameleon manage to hold on till the prey is transported safely back to its mouth? With some ultrasticky mucus on the very tip of its tongue. The mucus is 400 times thicker than human saliva and is gooey like honey.

One particular chameleon was seen to catch eight dragonflies in quick succession in just a minute!