Watch this Chameleon Give Birth to Live Young
Sunday, 29 March 2026
The South African Dwarf Chameleon has to contend with a
problem. It can sometimes get cold where
it lives and that means that if it laid eggs, they probably wouldn’t hatch. So,
evolution came up with a neat solution to that – instead of laying eggs, this
chameleon carries it young like a mammal.
In order to properly incubate her eggs, she finds the sunniest spots in
which to bask and enable them to grow.
When it is time for them to be born, she gives birth from fairly high up
in the branches. Fortunately, the young
do not drop to the ground. They are born
with a membrane that temporarily encloses them – and the membrane is sticky and
so attaches itself to a branch on the way down!
Once the newborn has dried off, as it were, it is ready to pursue life
in the branches.
Watch the amazing video, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, below:
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