Chameleon’s Feeding.
The chameleon tongue apparatus consists of highly modified hyoid bones, tongue muscles and collagenous elements. The hyoid bone has an elongated, parallel-sided projection, called 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 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-1, exceeds that for which muscle is able to produce, indicating the presence of an elastic power amplifier to power tongue projection. The recoil of elastic elements in the tongue apparatus are 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 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.
Source: Wikipedia.
Photo: Panther Chameleon by Alannah-Hawker
Photo: Lunchtime by AngiWallace.
(via rhamphotheca)
mothsaregreat: Oleander Hawk Moth (Daphnis nerii), Asia, Africa, and Europe
(photo by od0man on Flickr)
Welwitschia (Welwitschia mirabilis)
W. mirabilis is the only member of the family Welwitschiaceae. This succulent plant can live up to 1,500 years and is only found in a strip of land in the Namibi Desert comprising part of Namibia and Angola. It can survive on moisture from fog and dew. It consists of 2 leaves (which fray repeatedly to give the appearance of many leaves) that grow continuously, a stem base and roots. It is thought to be a relic from the Jurassic Period and it has changed very little since then.
(via: Encyclopedia of Life)
(images: T - H. Hillewaert; BL - Hans Hillewaert; BR - Freddy Weber)
technochocolate: The front claws of a pangolin are so long they are unfit for walking.
(taken from footage of an african Ground Pangolin, Manis temminckii)
A Baby and His Pal by TangoPango on Flickr.
Armadillo Lizard (Cordylus cataphractus)
- Native to the Scrub and rocky outcrops in Southern Africa
- Diurnal animals which hide in rock cracks and crevices, living in social groups of up to 30 to 60, but usually fewer
- Males are territorial, protecting a territory and mating with the females living there.The female gives birth to one or two live young; the species is one of the few lizards that does not lay eggs. The female may even feed her young, which is also unusual for a lizard
- When threatened the Armadillo Lizard will grab its tail in its mouth; presenting it hard sharp scales and making it awkward for a predator to grab
- Can live up to 25 years old in captivity
I do not own these images or this information
(via rhamphotheca)
life on the plains by source
headlikeanorange: An African tree squirrel (Paraxerus cepapi), aka Smith’s Bush Squirrel, eating a fig.
(via: Chimpanzee - Disneynature)
