July 25, 2008
Chop-Chop Chameleon
Furcifer labordi lives fast and dies young.
The three-inch-long Malagasy chameleon spends almost two-thirds of its life cozy and safe inside an egg. But after hatching, the lizard has to hit the ground running: It has only about five months to eat, grow to sexual maturity, reproduce, and die — together with its whole age group.
The reptile's surprisingly brief life cycle was reported in the July 1 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by
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