Sunday 13 February 2011

How I Met My Valentine


A V-day special on Green Humour! The chameleon's tongue may be even longer than the rest of its body. It operates at blinding speeds and can reach a full extension in 1/16th of a second, fast enough to catch a fly in mid-air! The hollow tongue sheathes over a long spike of cartilage called the hyoid horn, attached to the hyoid bone. Before the lizard strikes, it moves this whole assembly towards the front of the mouth, and aims at the target with its head. A set of muscles called the accelerators squeeze against the hyoid and shoot the tongue out. The club-shaped tip is covered in sticky saliva and also has an abrasive surface, making escape for the chameleon's prey impossible from the grip of the tongue.

I wonder what a high speed collision kiss with a sticky tongue like that would feel like.

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