[__ Science __ ] World's Smallest Reptile Discovered

[HeIsRisen2018]

Meet the nano-chameleon, a new contender for the title of world's smallest reptile

An international team, led by the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology (ZSM-SNSB), has discovered a minuscule new species of chameleon. The sole known, apparently adult male of the new species has a body size of just 13.5 mm, making it the smallest known male of the roughly 11,500 known...

phys.org

 

[Luminous_Rose]

I want one! ? I guess I'd have to worry about losing it or the cat eating it, though :P I would think they are pretty rare anyway.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

I'm not a big fan of reptiles myself, but I guess it is kind of cute.

 

[daninthelionsden]

LOL What does he eat? Everybody's bigger than him. LOL

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

LOL What does he eat? Everybody's bigger than him. LOL

No idea lol

 

[Luminous_Rose]

LOL What does he eat? Everybody's bigger than him. LOL

Gnats? lol. I dunno! Such a good question xD

 

[Barbarian]

Like most chameleons, which are adapted to eating insects, I would suppose that's what it eats as well.

 

[jasonc]

well the opposite is the west Nile monitor ,that bad boy can snap a cats neck and swallow it whole in one bite ,yup Florida has them .

 

[daninthelionsden]

Like most chameleons, which are adapted to eating insects, I would suppose that's what it eats as well.

Maybe gnats? A housefly would just take off carrying the tiny lizard with it...I would think lol.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

well the opposite is the west Nile monitor ,that bad boy can snap a cats neck and swallow it whole in one bite ,yup Florida has them .

Aww,.. poor kitty.

 

[jasonc]

Aww,.. poor kitty.

invasive species ,people think a lizard that can grow to 12 ft is a pet .

 

[Barbarian]

Maybe gnats? A housefly would just take off carrying the tiny lizard with it...I would think lol.

Even that lizard is more massive than a housefly.

invasive species ,people think a lizard that can grow to 12 ft is a pet .

Yeah, they get big and ill-tempered, and people just dump them. Not a good idea. They used to be bigger, though. One in Australia got up to around seven meters long (23 feet); disappeared about 50,000 years ago. Right around the time humans got there.

The best guess is that humans were better at taking down the large fauna on which this giant monitor preyed, and the extinction of those animals led to the extinction of the lizard. Or maybe humans figured the continent wasn't big enough for them and the lizard. Hard to say.