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79-479: The commercial began with a scene of a swamp at nighttime, and a close-up of Bud rhythmically croaking his name. Later, Weis and Er join in. They croak rather randomly for about ten seconds, until Bud, Weis, and Er begin croaking in sequence, thus forming the Budweiser name. Their croaking becomes quicker as the camera pulls back to show a bar with a large neon Budweiser sign glowing in the night. The commercial

158-404: A compound of χαμαί ( khamaí ) "on the ground" and λέων ( léōn ) "lion". In 1986, the family Chamaeleonidae was divided into two subfamilies, Brookesiinae and Chamaeleoninae . Under this classification, Brookesiinae included the genera Brookesia and Rhampholeon , as well as the genera later split off from them ( Palleon and Rieppeleon ), while Chamaeleoninae included

237-410: A crest of small spikes extending along the spine from the proximal part of the tail to the neck; both the extent and size of the spikes vary between species and individuals. These spikes help break up the definitive outline of the chameleon, which aids it when trying to blend into a background. Chameleons have the most distinctive eyes of any reptile. The upper and lower eyelids are joined, with only

316-424: A monophyletic group. While some authorities have previously preferred to use this subfamilial classification on the basis of the absence of evidence principle, these authorities later abandoned this subfamilial division, no longer recognizing any subfamilies with the family Chamaeleonidae. In 2015, however, Glaw reworked the subfamilial division by placing only the genera Brookesia and Palleon within

395-500: A 1996 study showed that more children recognized the Budweiser frogs, which they correctly associated with beer, than other television animal characters such as Ronald McDonald , Smokey Bear, and Tony the Tiger ; only Bugs Bunny did slightly better. Many have speculated that Budweiser's frogs were targeting younger people to their alcoholic products. Anheuser-Busch denied this, but because of such findings, Budweiser eventually slowed down

474-408: A chameleon's skeleton, possibly giving chameleons a secondary signaling system that does not interfere with their colour-changing ability, and may have evolved from sexual selection . Chameleons primarily live in the mainland of sub-Saharan Africa and on the island of Madagascar, although a few species live in northern Africa , southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta),

553-583: A classic example of wetland loss from these combined factors. Europe has likely lost nearly half its wetlands. New Zealand lost 90 percent of its wetlands over a period of 150 years. Ecologists recognize that swamps provide ecological services including flood control, fish production, water purification, carbon storage, and wildlife habitats. In many parts of the world authorities protect swamps. In parts of Europe and North America, swamp restoration projects are becoming widespread. The United States government began enforcing stricter laws and management programs in

632-430: A distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colours, being capable of colour-shifting camouflage . The large number of species in the family exhibit considerable variability in their capacity to change colour. For some, it is more of a shift of brightness (shades of brown); for others,

711-414: A lattice of guanine nanocrystals, and by exciting this lattice the spacing between the nanocrystals can be manipulated, which in turn affects which wavelengths of light are reflected and which are absorbed. Exciting the lattice increases the distance between the nanocrystals, and the skin reflects longer wavelengths of light. Thus, in a relaxed state the crystals reflect blue and green, but in an excited state

790-420: A pinhole large enough for the pupil to see through. Each eye can pivot and focus independently, allowing the chameleon to observe two different objects simultaneously. This gives them a full 360-degree arc of vision around their bodies. Prey is located using monocular depth perception , not stereopsis . Chameleons have the highest magnification (per size) of any vertebrate, with the highest density of cones in

869-418: A plethora of colour-combinations (reds, yellows, greens, blues) can be seen. Chameleons are also distinguished by their zygodactylous feet, their prehensile tail, their literally compressed bodies, their head casques, their projectile tongues used for catching prey, their swaying gait, and in some species crests or horns on their brow and snout. Chameleons' eyes are independently mobile, and because of this

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948-426: A positive effect on the pineal gland . All chameleons are primarily insectivores that feed by ballistically projecting their long tongues from their mouths to capture prey located some distance away. While the chameleons' tongues are typically thought to be one and a half to two times the length of their bodies (their length excluding the tail), smaller chameleons (both smaller species and smaller individuals of

1027-529: A problem, as chameleons have a very effective mechanism of holding onto their prey once the tongue has come into contact with it, including surface phenomena, such as wet adhesion and interlocking, and suction. The thermal insensitivity of tongue projection thus enables chameleons to feed effectively on cold mornings prior to being able to behaviorally elevate their body temperatures through thermoregulation , when other sympatric lizards species are still inactive, likely temporarily expanding their thermal niche as

1106-770: A restricted to only one of a few different habitat types. The typical chameleons from the subfamily Chamaeleoninae are arboreal , usually living in trees or bushes, although a few (notably the Namaqua chameleon ) are partially or largely terrestrial . The genus Brookesia , which comprises the majority of the species in the subfamily Brookesiinae, live low in vegetation or on the ground among leaf litter . Many chameleon species have small distributions and are considered threatened. Declining chameleon numbers are mostly due to habitat loss. Most chameleons are oviparous , but all Bradypodion species and many Trioceros species are ovoviviparous (although some biologists prefer to avoid

1185-612: A result. Certain species of chameleons have bones that glow when under ultraviolet light , also known as biogenic fluorescence . Some 31 different species of Calumma chameleons, all native to Madagascar , displayed this fluorescence in CT scans . The bones emitted a bright blue glow and could even shine through the chameleon's four layers of skin. The face was found to have a different glow, appearing as dots otherwise known as tubercles on facial bones. The glow results from proteins , pigments , chitin , and other materials that make up

1264-478: A single species in southern Europe, and a few across southern Asia as far east as India and Sri Lanka . They have been introduced to Hawaii and Florida . The English word chameleon ( / k ə ˈ m iː l i ə n / kuh-MEEL-ee-un , / k ə ˈ m i l . j ə n / kuh-MEEL-yuhn ) is a simplified spelling of Latin chamaeleōn , a borrowing of the Greek χαμαιλέων ( khamailéōn ),

1343-473: A species specific pattern in their skull tubercles and in Brookesia there is also some in tubercles on the body. The fluorescence is derived from bones that only are covered in very thin skin and it possibly serves a signaling role, especially in shaded habitats. Some species, such as Smith's dwarf chameleon and several others in the genus Bradypodion , adjust their colours for camouflage depending on

1422-405: A terrestrial habit have retained the same foot morphology with little modification. On each foot, the five distinguished toes are grouped into two fascicles. The toes in each fascicle are bound into a flattened group of either two or three, giving each foot a tongs -like appearance. On the front feet, the outer, lateral , group contains two toes, whereas the inner, medial , group contains three. On

1501-408: A variety of sources including precipitation, groundwater, tides and/or freshwater flooding. These hydrologic pathways all contribute to how energy and nutrients flow in and out of the ecosystem. As water flows through the swamp, nutrients, sediment and pollutants are naturally filtered out. Chemicals like phosphorus and nitrogen that end up in waterways get absorbed and used by the aquatic plants within

1580-401: A very low property value compared to fields, prairies , or woodlands . They have a reputation for being unproductive land that cannot easily be utilized for human activities, other than hunting , trapping , or fishing. Farmers, for example, typically drained swamps next to their fields so as to gain more land usable for planting crops, both historically, and to a lesser extent, presently. On

1659-638: Is a large swamp in the western Siberia area of the Russian Federation . This is one of the largest swamps in the world, covering an area larger than Switzerland . The Atchafalaya Swamp at the lower end of the Mississippi River is the largest swamp in the United States . It is an important example of the southern cypress swamp but it has been greatly altered by logging, drainage, and levee construction. Other famous swamps in

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1738-466: Is fully satisfactory, both being used in describing different feet, such as the zygodactyl feet of parrots or didactyl feet of sloths or ostriches, none of which is significantly like chameleon feet. Although "zygodactyl" is reasonably descriptive of chameleon foot anatomy, their foot structure does not resemble that of parrots, to which the term was first applied. As for didactyly, chameleons visibly have five toes on each foot, not two. Some chameleons have

1817-457: Is often listed among the best Super Bowl commercials in history, ranking at No. 5 at MSNBC 's list in 2004. Several more Frog ads were produced, with Hollywood Animatronic Effects company The Character Shop brought online to give the frogs more flexibility and capabilities. In one ad, the three Budweiser Frogs are sitting on a log in a Louisiana swamp, basking in the sun, when a Budweiser truck rolls by. Bud zaps out his sticky tongue, latching onto

1896-402: Is powered by muscle contraction alone, and is heavily thermally sensitive. While other ectothermic animals become sluggish as their body temperatures decline, due to a reduction in the contractile velocity of their muscles, chameleons are able to project their tongues at high performance even at low body temperatures. The thermal sensitivity of tongue retraction in chameleons, however, is not

1975-451: Is still unknown, there is one aspect of the evolutionary history of chameleon colour change that has already been conclusively studied: the effects of signal efficacy. Signal efficacy, or how well the signal can be seen against its background, has been shown to correlate directly to the spectral qualities of chameleon displays. Dwarf chameleons, the chameleon of study, occupy a wide variety of habitats from forests to grasslands to shrubbery. It

2054-485: Is to regulate their body temperatures, either to a darker colour to absorb light and heat to raise their temperature, or to a lighter colour to reflect light and heat, thereby either stabilizing or lowering their body temperature. Chameleons tend to show brighter colours when displaying aggression to other chameleons, and darker colours when they submit or "give up". Most chameleon genera (exceptions are Chamaeleo , Rhampholeon and Rieppeleon ) have blue fluorescence in

2133-543: The Brookesiinae subfamily, with all other genera being placed in Chamaeleoninae . Some chameleon species are able to change their skin coloration . Different chameleon species are able to vary their colouration and pattern through combinations of pink, blue, red, orange, green, black, brown, light blue, yellow, turquoise, and purple. Chameleon skin has a superficial layer which contains pigments, and under

2212-516: The Middle East , southeast Pakistan , India , Sri Lanka , and several smaller islands in the western Indian Ocean . Introduced , non-native populations are found in Hawaii and Florida. Chameleons are found only in tropical and subtropical regions and inhabit all kinds of lowland and mountain forests, woodlands, shrublands, savannas , and sometimes deserts , but each species tends to be

2291-979: The boreal regions of Canada, the word swamp is colloquially used for what is more formally termed a bog , fen , or muskeg . Some of the world's largest swamps are found along major rivers such as the Amazon , the Mississippi , and the Congo . Swamps and marshes are specific types of wetlands that form along waterbodies containing rich, hydric soils. Marshes are wetlands, continually or frequently flooded by nearby running bodies of water, that are dominated by emergent soft-stem vegetation and herbaceous plants. Swamps are wetlands consisting of saturated soils or standing water and are dominated by water-tolerant woody vegetation such as shrubs, bushes, and trees. Swamps are characterized by their saturated soils and slow-moving waters. The water that accumulates in swamps comes from

2370-467: The osmolarity of pieces of white skin. Colour change in chameleons has functions in camouflage , but most commonly in social signaling and in reactions to temperature and other conditions. The relative importance of these functions varies with the circumstances, as well as the species. Colour change signals a chameleon's physiological condition and intentions to other chameleons. Because chameleons are ectothermic , another reason why they change colour

2449-447: The retina . Like snakes , chameleons do not have an outer or a middle ear , so there is neither an ear-opening nor an eardrum. However, chameleons are not deaf: they can detect sound frequencies in the range of 200–600 Hz. Chameleons can see in both visible and ultraviolet light . Chameleons exposed to ultraviolet light show increased social behavior and activity levels, are more inclined to bask, feed, and reproduce as it has

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2528-640: The southeastern United States , especially in the Gulf Coast region. A baygall is a type of swamp found in the forest of the Gulf Coast states in the USA. The world's largest wetlands include significant areas of swamp, such as in the Amazon and Congo River basins. Further north, however, the largest wetlands are bogs . Chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons ( family Chamaeleonidae ) are

2607-549: The 1970s in efforts to protect and restore these ecosystems. Often the simplest steps to restoring swamps involve plugging drainage ditches and removing levees . Conservationists work to preserve swamps such as those in northwest Indiana in the United States Midwest that were preserved as part of the Indiana Dunes . Swamps can be found on all continents except Antarctica . The largest swamp in

2686-686: The Broadway veteran Danny Mastrogiorgio), was his more rational, even-tempered friend. Frankie apparently socialized with the frogs and was puzzled by Louie's animosity towards them. As the series' storyline progressed, it documented Louie's enlisting the assistance of an inept ferret hit man , who tries to kill the frogs by dismantling and dropping the Budweiser neon sign into the swamp water, thus electrocuting them. Although this assassination attempt failed, it resulted in Weis developing post-electroshock muscular irregularity. Louie briefly replaced Weis in

2765-520: The Bud-Weis-Er cheer, but ended up getting all of them fired, due to Louie's inability to just follow the script. The other frogs in return gave him a literal tongue-lashing and revealed to Louie that they could speak with a complete vocabulary and that they knew all along about his plot against them. These three frogs then began a new lifestyle as flashy tap-dancing and Fred Astaire -mimicking acts on Broadway. The Budweiser Lizards later displaced

2844-535: The Elder (1st century AD) also discusses chameleons in his Natural History , noting their ability to change colour for camouflage. The chameleon was featured in Conrad Gessner's Historia animalium (1563), copied from De aquatilibus (1553) by Pierre Belon . In Shakespeare's Hamlet , the eponymous Prince says "Excellent, i' faith, of the chameleon's dish. I eat the air, promise-crammed." This refers to

2923-719: The United States are the forested portions of the Everglades , Okefenokee Swamp , Barley Barber Swamp , Great Cypress Swamp and the Great Dismal Swamp . The Okefenokee is located in extreme southeastern Georgia and extends slightly into northeastern Florida . The Great Cypress Swamp is mostly in Delaware , but extends into Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula . Point Lookout State Park on

3002-829: The Upper Miocene (about 5–13 mya) of Kenya. The chameleons are probably far older than that, perhaps sharing a common ancestor with iguanids and agamids more than 100 mya (agamids being more closely related). Since fossils have been found in Africa, Europe, and Asia, chameleons were certainly once more widespread than they are today. Although nearly half of all chameleon species today live in Madagascar, this offers no basis for speculation that chameleons might originate from there. In fact, it has recently been shown that chameleons most likely originated in mainland Africa. It appears there were two distinct oceanic migrations from

3081-461: The ad campaign in the following years, and by 2000, the frogs had been replaced by two chameleons named Louie and Frankie that appealed to an older audience than the frogs. However, the frogs and lizards were in some of the same commercials. Swamp A swamp is a forested wetland . Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in creating this environment. Swamps vary in size and are located all around

3160-415: The authors indicated that the lizard was a stem -chamaeleonid. However, Matsumoto & Evans (2018) reinterpreted this specimen as an albanerpetontid amphibian. This specimen was given the name Yaksha perettii in 2020, and was noted to have several convergently chameleon-like features, including adaptations for ballistic feeding. While the exact evolutionary history of colour change in chameleons

3239-625: The body outline and remain hidden from a potential enemy's sight. Only if detected, chameleons actively defend themselves. They adopt a defensive body posture, present an attacker with a laterally flattened body to appear larger, warn with an open mouth, and, if needed, utilize feet and jaws to fight back. Vocalization is sometimes incorporated into threat displays. Chameleons are parasitized by nematode worms, including threadworms ( Filarioidea ). Threadworms can be transmitted by biting insects such as ticks and mosquitoes . Other roundworms are transmitted through food contaminated with roundworm eggs;

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3318-504: The captive-breeding in the U.S. which has increased to the point that the U.S. can fulfill its demand, and has now even become a major exporter as well. In the U.S. they are so popular, that despite Florida having six invasive chameleon species due to the pet trade, reptile hobbyists in these areas search for chameleons to keep as pets or to breed and sell them, with some selling for up to a thousand dollars. Aristotle (4th century BC) describes chameleons in his History of Animals . Pliny

3397-446: The case of Trioceros jacksonii , or large crests on top of their heads, like Chamaeleo calyptratus . Many species are sexually dimorphic , and males are typically much more ornamented than the female chameleons. Typical sizes of species of chameleon commonly kept in captivity or as pets are: The feet of chameleons are highly adapted to arboreal locomotion , and species such as Chamaeleo namaquensis that have secondarily adopted

3476-435: The chameleon’s brain is constantly analyzing two separate, individual images of its environment. When hunting prey, the eyes focus forward in coordination, affording the animal stereoscopic vision . Chameleons are diurnal and adapted for visual hunting of invertebrates, mostly insects, although the large species also can catch small vertebrates. Chameleons typically are arboreal , but there are also many species that live on

3555-600: The coasts of East Sumatra, Kalimantan (Central, East, South and West Kalimantan provinces), West Papua, Papua New Guinea, Brunei, Peninsular Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, Southeast Thailand, and the Philippines (Riley et al. ,1996). Indonesia has the largest area of tropical peatland. Of the total 440,000 km (170,000 sq mi) tropical peat swamp, about 210,000 km (81,000 sq mi) are located in Indonesia (Page, 2001; Wahyunto, 2006). The Vasyugan Swamp

3634-520: The dynamics of water potential in Chameleon eggs, the consideration of exerted pressure on eggshells will be essential because the pressure of eggshells play an important role in the water relation of eggs during entire incubation period The ovoviviparous species, such as the Jackson's chameleon ( Trioceros jacksonii ) have a five- to seven-month gestation period. Each young chameleon is born within

3713-507: The entire trio, but rather Bud and a newfound female frog. One later Super Bowl commercial featuring the frogs had them riding on the back of an alligator into the bar, where they croak their names at the startled patrons, and leave with a crate of Budweiser beer strapped to the alligator's waist while dancing to Jamming by Bob Marley and the Wailers . After the initial ads generated great interest, new creatures began making appearances in

3792-408: The entoglossal process, over which a tubular muscle, the accelerator muscle, sits. The accelerator muscle contracts around the entoglossal process and is responsible for creating the work to power tongue projection, both directly and through the loading of collagenous elements located between the entoglossal process and the accelerator muscle. The tongue retractor muscle, the hyoglossus, connects

3871-486: The following examples: Chameleons are preyed upon by a variety of other animals. Birds and snakes are the most important predators of adult chameleons. Invertebrates, especially ants, put a high predation pressure on chameleon eggs and juveniles. Chameleons are unlikely to be able to flee from predators and rely on crypsis as their primary defense. Chameleons can change both their colours and their patterns (to varying extents) to resemble their surroundings or disrupt

3950-651: The forest have a more defined and colourful palette compared to those living in the desert or savanna, which have more of a basic, brown, and charred palette. The oldest described chameleon is Anqingosaurus brevicephalus from the Middle Paleocene (about 58.7–61.7 mya ) of China. Other chameleon fossils include Chamaeleo caroliquarti from the Lower Miocene (about 13–23 mya) of the Czech Republic and Germany, and Chamaeleo intermedius from

4029-473: The frogs entirely and continued appearing in television and radio advertisements into the early 2000s. In March 1999 Budweiser released a CD, Frank & Louie's Greatest Hits , featuring songs such as " Sweet Home Alabama ," " My Sharona ," and " Rock This Town " woven around alternate takes of some of Frank and Louie's radio ads. Much like the Joe Camel controversy around the time of the frogs' popularity,

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4108-411: The genera Bradypodion , Calumma , Chamaeleo , Furcifer and Trioceros , as well as the genera later split off from them ( Archaius , Nadzikambia and Kinyongia ). Since that time, however, the validity of this subfamily designation has been the subject of much debate, although most phylogenetic studies support the notion that the pygmy chameleons of the subfamily Brookesiinae are not

4187-506: The genera Brookesia , Rhampholeon , or Rieppeleon . These are among the most sensitive reptiles one can own, requiring specialized attention and care. The U.S. has been the main importer of chameleons since the early 1980s accounting for 69% of African reptile exports. However, there have been large declines due to tougher regulations to protect species from being taken from the wild and due to many becoming invasive in places like Florida. They have remained popular though which may be due to

4266-421: The ground. The arboreal species use their prehensile tail as an extra anchor point when they are moving or resting in trees or bushes; because of this, their tail is often referred to as a "fifth limb". Depending on species, they range from rainforest to desert conditions and from lowlands to highlands, with the vast majority occurring in Africa (about half of the species are restricted to Madagascar ), but with

4345-428: The hyoid and accelerator muscle, and is responsible for drawing the tongue back into the mouth following tongue projection. Tongue projection occurs at extremely high performance, reaching the prey in as little as 0.07 seconds, having been launched at accelerations exceeding 41 g . The power with which the tongue is launched, known to exceed 3000 W kg , exceeds that which muscle is able to produce, indicating

4424-550: The larvae burrow through the wall of the intestine into the bloodstream. Chameleons are subject to several protozoan parasites, such as Plasmodium , which causes malaria , Trypanosoma , which causes sleeping sickness , and Leishmania , which causes leishmaniasis . Chameleons are subject to parasitism by coccidia , including species of the genera Choleoeimeria , Eimeria , and Isospora . Chameleons are popular reptile pets, mostly imported from African countries like Madagascar, Tanzania, and Togo. The most common in

4503-404: The layer are cells with very small (nanoscale) guanine crystals. Chameleons change colour by "actively tuning the photonic response of a lattice of small guanine nanocrystals in the s-iridophores". This tuning, by an unknown molecular mechanism, changes the wavelength of light reflected off the crystals which changes the colour of the skin. The colour change was duplicated ex vivo by modifying

4582-420: The lizard has "short and wide skull, large orbits, elongated and robust lingual process, frontal with parallel margins, incipient prefrontal boss, reduced vomers, absent retroarticular process, low presacral vertebral count (between 15 and 17) and extremely short, curled tail"; the authors considered these traits to be indicative of the lizard's affiliation with Chamaeleonidae. The phylogenetic analysis conducted by

4661-408: The longer wavelengths such as yellow, orange, green, and red are reflected. The skin of a chameleon also contains some yellow pigments, which combined with the blue reflected by a relaxed crystal lattice results in the characteristic green colour which is common of many chameleons in their relaxed state. Chameleon colour palettes have evolved through evolution and the environment. Chameleons living in

4740-603: The mainland to Madagascar. The diverse speciation of chameleons has been theorized to have directly reflected the increase in open habitats (savannah, grassland, and heathland) that accompanied the Oligocene period. Monophyly of the family is supported by several studies. Daza et al. (2016) described a small (10.6 mm in snout-vent length), probably neonatal lizard preserved in the Cretaceous ( Albian - Cenomanian boundary) amber from Myanmar . The authors noted that

4819-456: The moving truck. Like an elastic bungee, the tongue stretches to the point where it can no more, then launches Bud off the log, sending him flying through the air after the truck, while a "Yee-Haw!" and Cajun music are heard. The frog puppets featured silicone skins over animatronic armatures, which allowed the frogs to breathe, bloat their throats, speak, and blink and move their eyes, via Radio Control and Rod Operation. A subsequent ad featured not

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4898-487: The other hand, swamps can (and do) play a beneficial ecological role in the overall functions of the natural environment and provide a variety of resources that many species depend on. Swamps and other wetlands have shown to be a natural form of flood management and defense against flooding. In such circumstances where flooding does occur, swamps absorb and use the excess water within the wetland, preventing it from traveling and flooding surrounding areas. Dense vegetation within

4977-411: The presence of an elastic power amplifier to power tongue projection. The recoil of elastic elements in the tongue apparatus is thus responsible for large percentages of the overall tongue projection performance. One consequence of the incorporation of an elastic recoil mechanism to the tongue projection mechanism is relative thermal insensitivity of tongue projection relative to tongue retraction, which

5056-406: The rear feet, this arrangement is reversed, the medial group containing two toes, and the lateral group three. These specialized feet allow chameleons to grip tightly onto narrow or rough branches. Furthermore, each toe is equipped with a sharp claw to afford a grip on surfaces such as bark when climbing. It is common to refer to the feet of chameleons as didactyl or zygodactyl , though neither term

5135-544: The same species) have recently been found to have proportionately larger tongue apparatuses than their larger counterparts. Thus, smaller chameleons are able to project their tongues greater distances than the larger chameleons that are the subject of most studies and tongue length estimates, and can project their tongues more than twice their body length. The tongue apparatus consists of highly modified hyoid bones , tongue muscles , and collagenous elements . The hyoid bone has an elongated, parallel-sided projection, called

5214-483: The same species. Eggs generally hatch after four to 12 months, again depending on the species. The eggs of Parson's chameleon ( Calumma parsoni ) typically take 400 to 660 days to hatch. Chameleons lay flexible-shelled eggs which are affected by environmental characteristics during incubation. The egg mass is the most important in differentiating survivors of Chameleon during incubation. An increase in egg mass will depend on temperature and water potential. To understand

5293-440: The signals are only shown briefly; chameleons are almost always muted cryptic colours. Chameleons vary greatly in size and body structure, with maximum total lengths varying from 22 mm (0.87 in) in male Brookesia nana (one of the world's smallest reptiles ) to 68.5 cm (27.0 in) in the male Furcifer oustaleti . Many have head or facial ornamentation, such as nasal protrusions, or horn-like projections in

5372-532: The southern tip of Maryland contains many swamps and marshes. The Great Dismal Swamp lies in extreme southeastern Virginia and extreme northeastern North Carolina . Both are National Wildlife Refuges . Another swamp area, Reelfoot Lake of extreme western Tennessee and Kentucky , was created by the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes . Caddo Lake , the Great Dismal and Reelfoot are swamps centered at large lakes. Swamps are often associated with bayous in

5451-467: The sticky transparent membrane of its yolk sac. The mother presses each egg onto a branch, where it sticks. The membrane bursts and the newly hatched chameleon frees itself and climbs away to hunt for itself and hide from predators. The female can have up to 30 live young from one gestation. Chameleons generally eat insects , but larger species, such as the common chameleon, may also take other lizards and young birds . The range of diets can be seen from

5530-618: The swamp also provides soil stability to the land, holding soils and sediment in place whilst preventing erosion and land loss. Swamps are an abundant and valuable source of fresh water and oxygen for all life, and they are often breeding grounds for a wide variety of species. Floodplain swamps are an important resource in the production and distribution of fish. Two thirds of global fish and shellfish are commercially harvested and dependent on wetlands. Historically, humans have been known to drain and/or fill swamps and other wetlands in order to create more space for human development and to reduce

5609-447: The swamp, purifying the water. Any remaining or excess chemicals present will accumulate at the bottom of the swamp, being removed from the water and buried within the sediment. The biogeochemical environment of a swamp is dependent on its hydrology, affecting the levels and availability of resources like oxygen, nutrients, water pH and toxicity, which will influence the whole ecosystem. Swamps and other wetlands have traditionally held

5688-416: The swamp. Beginning at Super Bowl XXXII , a new campaign created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners introduced two wisecracking chameleons made their debut. Louie, notable for his distinct Brooklyn accent (he was voiced by New York City voice actor Paul Christie ), was irritated by the frogs' incessant croaking, and jealous of their success, while Frankie, who speaks in a low baritone voice (voiced by

5767-603: The term ovoviviparous because of inconsistencies with its use in some animal groups, instead just using viviparous ). The oviparous species lay eggs three to six weeks after copulation . The female will dig a hole—from 10–30 cm (4–12 in), deep depending on the species—and deposit her eggs. Clutch sizes vary greatly with species. Small Brookesia species may only lay two to four eggs, while large veiled chameleons ( Chamaeleo calyptratus ) have been known to lay clutches of 20–200 (veiled chameleons) and 10–40 (panther chameleons) eggs. Clutch sizes can also vary greatly among

5846-525: The threat of diseases borne by swamp insects. Wetlands are removed and replaced with land that is then used for things like agriculture, real estate, and recreational uses. Many swamps have also undergone intensive logging and farming, requiring the construction of drainage ditches and canals. These ditches and canals contributed to drainage and, along the coast, allowed salt water to intrude, converting swamps to marsh or even to open water. Large areas of swamp were therefore lost or degraded. Louisiana provides

5925-613: The trade are the Senegal chameleon ( Chamaeleo senegalensis ), the Yemen or veiled chameleon ( Chamaeleo calyptratus ), the panther chameleon ( Furcifer pardalis ), and Jackson's chameleon ( Trioceros jacksonii ). Other chameleons seen in captivity (albeit on an irregular basis) include such species as the carpet chameleon ( Furcifer lateralis ), Meller’s chameleon ( Trioceros melleri ), Parson’s chameleon ( Calumma parsonii ), and several species of pygmy and leaf-tailed chameleons, mostly of

6004-596: The vision of the specific predator species (for example, bird or snake) by which they are being threatened. In the introduced Hawaiian population of Jackson's chameleon , conspicuous colour changes that are used for communication between chameleons have increased whereas anti-predator camouflage colour changes have decreased relative to the native source population in Kenya where there are more predators. Chameleons have two superimposed layers within their skin that control their colour and thermoregulation. The top layer contains

6083-907: The world is the Amazon River floodplain, which is particularly significant for its large number of fish and tree species. The Sudd and the Okavango Delta are Africa's best known marshland areas. The Bangweulu Floodplains make up Africa's largest swamp. The Mesopotamian Marshes is a large swamp and river system in southern Iraq , traditionally inhabited in part by the Marsh Arabs . In Asia, tropical peat swamps are located in mainland East Asia and Southeast Asia. In Southeast Asia, peatlands are mainly found in low altitude coastal and sub-coastal areas and extend inland for distance more than 100 km (62 mi) along river valleys and across watersheds. They are mostly to be found on

6162-589: The world. The water of a swamp may be fresh water , brackish water , or seawater . Freshwater swamps form along large rivers or lakes where they are critically dependent upon rainwater and seasonal flooding to maintain natural water level fluctuations. Saltwater swamps are found along tropical and subtropical coastlines. Some swamps have hammocks , or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation , or vegetation that tolerates periodic inundation or soil saturation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp forests and "transitional" or shrub swamps . In

6241-449: Was demonstrated that chameleons in brighter areas tended to present brighter signals, but chameleons in darker areas tended to present relatively more contrasting signals to their backgrounds. This finding suggests that signal efficacy (and thus habitat) has affected the evolution of chameleon signaling. Stuart-Fox et al. note that it makes sense that selection for crypsis is not seen to be as important as selection for signal efficacy, because

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