Panther chameleon

With eyes that swivel on their own, a tongue faster than a blink, and colour that signals mood, this tree lizard is a distant relative of the king cobra. Each cone-shaped eye can turn almost half a circle to see nearly all the way around. Then both eyes point forward together to judge distance before the sticky tongue shoots out to snag insects.

Males show turquoise and green with red, orange, yellow or blue bars, and shift colour with mood. Calm males look green, while excited males flash yellow, orange and red. Females and young usually stay dull grey, tan or faint green to blend with leaves. A male grows to about as long as from an adult elbow to fingertips, while females are smaller, about two-thirds that length.

Feet grip like tongs, with toes fused into two pads that face each other, and the coiled tail wraps around branches like a fifth limb. It lives in trees and shrubs in warm lowland Madagascar, often in sunny spots along rivers and roads. It hunts mainly insects, but also takes small frogs and lizards.