Labord's chameleon - this one tugged on the ol' heart strings but fascinating nonetheless

[fcat]

Trigger warning: Watch a chameleon die

Watch chameleon erupt in color 'as if uttering her last words' in her final moments before death

Footage of Labord's chameleon in last moments of her short life shows her skin burst into 'chaotic technicolor patterns' — a spectacle never observed in the wild before.

www.livescience.com

For those who don't want to watch/read:
*One of the shortest vertebrate life spans -4-5 months
*Spend more time incubating than alive
*2/3 of the year the entire population is underground (eggs are buried)
*Females die within hours of laying eggs
*Males die too, they can't survive the dry season

 

[viper69]

Excellent article/facts- chams are my lizard- owned a couple.

Interesting how the species hasn’t evolved yet to survive the dry season

 

[dragonfire1577]

This species isn't seasonal in the entirety of its range and can survive quite a bit longer under ideal conditions too, the vast majority die due to the conditions of the dry season well before their biological clock is really meant to stop ticking. Such a brutal survival strategy but it clearly works since it evolved to begin with.