---
title: "What the sources say about the Veiled Chameleon | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "49 claims from the Veiled Chameleon profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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---

# What the sources say about the Veiled Chameleon (*Chamaeleo calyptratus*)

> 49 claims from the Veiled Chameleon profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Veiled Chameleon](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/veiled-chameleon/)

## Chamaeleo calyptratus (veiled chameleon). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Chamaeleo_calyptratus/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Shy, but Aggressive to Its Own Kind | Veiled chameleons are shy in nature ... However, veiled chameleons are very aggressive towards each other (note: section heading) |
| The casque starts as a tiny swelling on a hatchling and grows to two inches tall | They have a casque found on top of their heads, which is a tiny swelling when a hatchling, but grows to two inches in height |
| mature males have a larger casque and body | Males have a larger body and casque (head crest or helmet) when mature |
| It prefers to live high up in trees or lower down in bushes and shrubs | they prefer to live high up in trees or lower near the ground in bushes and shrubs |
| one of the few chameleons that also eats plants | they are one of the few chameleons that also enjoy the taste of plants |
| It adapted to eating leaves as a source of water in the dry seasons. | They adapted to eating leaves of plants as a source of water during the dry seasons |
| Veiled chameleons are shy by nature | Veiled chameleons are shy in nature |
| when startled or threatened, one may curl up tightly, darken in color, and play dead | When startled or feeling threatened they may curl into a tight fetal position, darken in color, and "play possum" (note: 'play dead' is the plain meaning of 'play possum') |
| Toward each other they are very aggressive, and they prefer to live alone. | veiled chameleons are very aggressive towards each other. They prefer to live a solitary life |
| Males are very territorial. | Males are very territorial |
| Males and females only tolerate each other when ready to breed. | Males and females only tolerate each other when ready to breed. |

## Maddox, Beloyan, Claunch & Johnson (2022). Florida's Nonnative Herpetofauna: Veiled Chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus), Oustalet's Chameleon (Furcifer oustaleti), and Panther Chameleon (Furcifer pardalis). EDIS.

https://doi.org/10.32473/edis-uw501-2022

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| High, dry plateaus, forests and river valleys of Yemen and southwestern Saudi Arabia | southwestern Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen, occupying a variety of habitats including high and dry plateaus, forests, and river valleys (note: stats.habitat) |
| A Helmet on Its Head | helmet-like structure on its head (note: section heading) |
| carries a very high, triangular casque, a helmet-like crest on top of its head | very high and triangular ... helmet-like structure on its head |
| Nose to tail-tip, adults reach 12 to 18 inches long | Adult veiled chameleons range from 12 to 18 inches in total length (i.e., including the tail) |
| Its native home is southwestern Saudi Arabia and Yemen, where it lives on high, dry plateaus and in forests and river valleys | southwestern Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen, occupying a variety of habitats including high and dry plateaus, forests, and river valleys |
| Carried abroad by the pet trade, it is known to live in isolated populations in southern Florida and on the Hawaiian island of Maui. | the three species currently established in Florida were imported by the exotic pet industry ... All three chameleon species are known to occur in isolated populations within the southern half of the Florida (note: Florida half; the Maui half is the hisc-veiled-chameleon claim below) |
| a sit-and-wait hunter | They are sit-and-wait predators (note: vibe.reason, settle #271: replaces 'kaleidoscopic spatial color shifts') |

## Veiled Chameleon. Hawaii Invasive Species Council, Department of Land and Natural Resources.

https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/hisc/info/invasive-species-profiles/veiled-chameleon/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A veiled chameleon can live four to eight years. | Veiled chameleons can live four to eight years |
| A veiled chameleon eats mainly insects | Prey primarily on insects |
| Carried abroad by the pet trade, it is known to live in isolated populations in southern Florida and on the Hawaiian island of Maui. | they were illegally introduced to Hawaii via the pet trade ... Maui: Populations have been found in Upcountry (note: Maui half; the Florida half is the edis-2022 claim above) |

## Chameleon. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/chameleon

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| eyes that look two ways at once | look at two different objects at the same time (note: tagline; SDZ states this for chameleons in general, and the veiled chameleon is one) |
| a casque that collects water | The casque acts like a water collector (note: tagline; SDZ's water-catching casque paragraph names the veiled chameleon) |
| Insects, plus leaves and flowers | Veiled chameleons are omnivores, eating insects, leaves, and flowers (note: stats.diet; SDZ names the veiled chameleon here, unlike its family-wide locusts and crickets list) |
| That tall crest, called a casque, acts like a water collector. | The casque acts like a water collector |
| Veiled chameleons live in the mountain regions of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, where there is very little water | The veiled chameleon is a large chameleon found in the mountain regions of Yemen and Saudi Arabia where there is very little water |
| at night, droplets of moisture roll down the casque and into the chameleon's open mouth | at night, droplets of moisture roll down the casque and into the chameleon's open mouth |
| At night, droplets of moisture roll down the casque and into the chameleon's open mouth. | at night, droplets of moisture roll down the casque and into the chameleon's open mouth |
| it can rotate and focus each eye separately to look at two different things at the same time, giving it a full 360-degree view around its body | The chameleon can rotate and focus its eyes separately to look at two different objects at the same time! This gives it a full 360-degree view around its body (note: family-wide on SDZ, so the page says 'Like other chameleons') |
| When it sees prey, both eyes can focus in the same direction for a clearer view. | When the chameleon sees prey, both eyes can focus in the same direction to get a clearer view |
| A Head That Catches Its Own Water | The casque acts like a water collector (note: blockquote lead-in) |
| Eyes on Two Targets at Once | look at two different objects at the same time (note: section heading) |
| These are mountain regions with very little water | found in the mountain regions of Yemen and Saudi Arabia where there is very little water (note: SDZ's sentence names the veiled chameleon) |
| In chameleons, the tip of the tongue is a ball of muscle that rapidly forms a small suction cup as it hits its prey. | The end of the tongue is a ball of muscle, and as it hits its prey, it rapidly forms a small suction cup (note: family-wide on SDZ, so worded for chameleons in general) |
| Once the prey sticks, the chameleon draws it back into its mouth. | Once the prey sticks to the tongue, the chameleon draws it back into the mouth |
| taking leaves and flowers | Veiled chameleons are omnivores, eating insects, leaves, and flowers |

## Anderson (2016). Off like a shot: scaling of ballistic tongue projection reveals extremely high performance in small chameleons. Scientific Reports.

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep18625

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A tongue that can shoot to full length in 26 milliseconds | 26.3/39.3 (note: tagline. Chamaeleo calyptratus row of Table 1, column 'Min./max. Min. projection duration (ms)': 26.3 is the fastest individual. Projection duration is measured 'between the onset of tongue projection ... and the time the tongue reached maximal projection distance', hence 'to full length'; 26 rounds down from 26.3, and 'can' keeps the source's minimum) |
| An elastic tongue that can accelerate at more than 50 times the pull of gravity | 305/514 (note: stats.superpower. Chamaeleo calyptratus row of Table 1, column 'Min./max. Max. peak acceleration (m s-2)'; 514 / 9.80665 = 52.4 g, the conversion the paper uses (2,590 m s-2 = 264 g)) |
| reach full length in under 30 milliseconds | 26.3/39.3 (note: stats.superpower; fastest individual 26.3 ms, Table 1 Chamaeleo calyptratus row, 'Min. projection duration (ms)') |
| A 2016 study that filmed 20 chameleon species | performance was examined during feeding among 20 chameleon species in nine genera (note: publication year 2016 from the reference metadata (Sci Rep 6, 18625, 2016); filmed with a high-speed camera per the methods and acknowledgments) |
| measured the veiled chameleon's tongue accelerating at up to 514 meters per second squared, more than 50 times the pull of gravity | 305/514 (note: Chamaeleo calyptratus row of Table 1 (Min./max. Max. peak acceleration, m s-2); 514 / 9.80665 = 52.4 g. Same wording in the body and FAQ 1) |
| reaching full length in as little as 26 milliseconds | 26.3/39.3 (note: Chamaeleo calyptratus row of Table 1 (Min./max. Min. projection duration, ms), measured from onset of projection to maximal projection distance; 26 rounds down from 26.3) |
| Chameleons do not fire their tongues with muscle power alone. | Chameleons employ such a mechanism to ballistically project their tongue up to two body lengths, achieving power outputs nearly three times greater than those possible via muscle contraction |
| They stretch elastic tissue and use its recoil, which releases energy more rapidly than muscles contracting directly could. | Stretching elastic tissues and using their recoil to power movement allows organisms to release energy more rapidly than by muscle contraction directly |
| A Spring-Loaded Tongue | Stretching elastic tissues and using their recoil to power movement (note: section heading; 'spring-loaded' for stored elastic recoil) |
| whose tongue fires on elastic recoil | Stretching elastic tissues and using their recoil to power movement (note: vibe.reason, settle #271; 26 ms is covered by the body claim of the same wording) |

## Herrel et al. (2014). The scaling of tongue projection in the veiled chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus. Zoology.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2014.01.001

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Chameleons can grow up to 100 times heavier within a year of hatching. | Within a year of hatching, chameleons can grow by up to two orders of magnitude in body mass (note: two orders of magnitude = 100 times; scope kept at 'chameleons' as the abstract words it) |
| One study filmed 12 veiled chameleons of different sizes, from about 1 gram to 200 grams. | the veiled chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus. The chameleons used in this study varied in size from approximately 3 to 18 cm SVL (1-200 g). Feeding sequences of 12 chameleons of different sizes were filmed |

## Wilms, Sindaco & Shobrak (2012). Chamaeleo calyptratus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012: e.T176306A1437838.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2012.rlts.t176306a1437838.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. | Least Concern (LC) (note: category read from GBIF's current copy of the Red List, so it is the standing listing) |