This chameleon’s tongue is faster than any sports car

Scientists have found that small chameleons, like the rosette-nosed pygmy chameleon, have tongues that move faster than any other body part of any other reptile, mammal or bird.

Their tongues can extend up to 2.5 times their body length, and can accelerate up to 264 times the force of gravity. Expressed another way, if the rosette-nosed pygmy chameleon was a car, it would go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in .01 seconds.

After recording 20 chemicals, Brown University biologist Christopher Anderson found that the smaller the chameleon, the faster and more powerful their tongue is. This is likely because they have a faster metabolism and require proportionately more food than larger chameleons.