Sunday, March 2, 2008

Chameleon's anatomy 101A (Veiled)

Male Veiled Chameleon Skeleton


Male Veiled Chameleon Skull

Gross Anatomy of Female Veiled Chameleon
used with permission from www.chamaeleon-terraristik.de

The organs shown are artificially "colored" to help us view them better. The intestine color, however, remain untouched.

4 comments:

Sajid said...

I always wanted to know one thing. Most of the common chameleons are having a small hole at both sides of thier head, just below the eyes near the joints of jaw bone. I never saw anyone explaining what it is. I thought it was its ears :), but later came to know that chameleon do not have ears. Please enlighten me.
look at this.. http://www.treknature.com/gallery/photo134475.htm

Frans Kusuma said...

Hi, Sajid. old world chameleons (such as veiled, panthers, parsonii, etc) do not have ears.


The naming of "common chameleon" is confusing.
But, what you have there, scientifically, is not related to old world chameleon.

Sajid said...

Please look this pericular example
http://www.flickr.com/photos/efeu/3470145673/

This photo has a note, please hover your mouse to see them. I would like to know about this if it is not the ear.

Frans Kusuma said...

Hi Sajid,
That is an ear.
BUT, it is NOT a chameleon. It is mistakenly named a chameleon.

If I am not mistaken, it is an oriental garden lizard (calotes versicolor). genus of calotes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_garden_lizard

Old world chameleons and common chameleons are two different lizards.

Veiled chameleon's genus of chamaeleo.
http://adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chcalyptratus.html

The oriental garden lizard and veiled chameleon are two different species.
Just like a komodo dragon and a crocodile are two different lizard.