Shhh, please keep your voices down. The Department of Impossible Cuteness is trying not to disturb this tiny baby panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis), who’s so recently hatched he hasn’t noticed he’s no longer inside his cozy egg. Reading, PA-based chameleon breeder Canvas Chameleon took these amazing photos after helping the wee lizard out of his egg after noticing that the egg had failed to “pip” properly. Pipping is the initial cracking of the egg shell and what signals to everyone outside of the egg that hatching is underway:
“When an egg pips, it is usually at the end of the egg where the head of the chameleon is. It will split up in different directions starting from the end point of the egg. At this point the little ones usually take up to a day to absorb the rest of the sac and gain the strength to push out on their own.
If the egg pips on the side for some reason it can be difficult for the little one to push out as their head isn’t near the hole…So with this little one, he split the side of the egg and not the end like all the siblings. I noticed this in the morning and by the afternoon when his siblings were running around the container and he was still hanging out in the egg I knew it was time to help. This isn’t to say that he wouldn’t have found a way out but based off my past experiences with situations just like this I felt it was necessary to play mother nature and give him a helping hand.”
We’re pleased to report that this adorable little baby is now hanging out and growing up with the rest of his siblings. And we’ve gotten an awesome opportunity to see what a baby chameleon looks like while still inside its egg.
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