New Species of Chameleon discovered

A new chameleon, Kinyongia Magomberae, was discovered when a snake coughed it up in front of a scientist. The article includes a video:

www.dailymail.co.uk...

A new species of chameleon has been discovered after a snake coughed it up in front of a startled British scientist working in Africa.

Dr Andrew Marshall was in a threatened forest in Tanzania surveying monkeys when he disturbed the twig snake and out popped the tiny lizard.

He said: 'I was out there doing conservation research when I came across this snake. It saw me and fled, and as it did so spat out a chameleon.

The creature, small enough to sit in the palm of a hand, was named today as Kinyongia magomberae by scientists writing in the African Journal of Herpetology.
Shortly after the first discovery, a second Kinyongia chameleon was found by one of Dr Marshall's colleagues about seven miles away. Unlike the first specimen, this one was very much alive.

Chameleon:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7d24ec0d9cd0.jpg[/atsimg]


Twig Snake:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/de07908c51eb.jpg[/atsimg]



[edit on 24-11-2009 by berenike]

Brilliant, just brilliant.....S+F just for bringing this to my attention. I love to see new life being presented. This is awesome

Be safe and be well

Interesting,wouldn't it be weird if the only reason we haven't spotted it was because it shared a symbiotic relationship with the snake in it's mouth.

reply to post by Okiminletsdoit!


There might be an epidemic now of hordes of scientist going around prodding snakes to make them sick I'm only half joking, too. I'e been amazed at some of the things I've found out about their antics recently.

*********

I'm re-posting the picture because I think this one gives a better idea of how tiny the chameleon is compared to the hand behind it:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/85c3598695bd.jpg[/atsimg]

I think that's awesome

Way to be in the right place at the right time

There might be an epidemic now of hordes of scientist going around prodding snakes to make them sick

I'm only half joking, too. I'e been amazed at some of the things I've found out about their antics recently.

Perhaps the chameleons mouth should be inspected...he looks like he was trying to hide something in that snakes mouth.

He is so doggone cute..Id love to have him as a pet..lol..they are so amazing, able to change colors, I just find it incredible.

reply to post by JohnBadger


Wouldn't it be wonderful if the chameleon had just caught a rare and unknown bug just before the snake swallowed him?

And if the bug had just eaten....

I love chameleons ... had one as a pet when I was a kid in Zim. Oddly enough I had a strange dream the other night when I was trying to pick up a large chameleon under a bush. When I went around the bush to try on the other side, a cat ran by with a dead chameleon in its mouth.
I think I was trying to put the chameleon back into the tree.

In Namibia there is a Desert Chameleon ... never seen a tree in it's life. When we tried to put it in a bush, it kept on falling out. Did not know how to climb.

www.earth-touch.com... -landscape

Edit to add link to some amaving vid and pics

[edit on 25/11/2009 by deltaalphanovember]