Most chameleon species give birth of their young through eggs. The eggs are deposited somewhere and the chameleon mother does not look after them. Some other species also produce eggs, but those stay inside the mother until the baby is ready to be born. It comes out of its mother as if there never was an egg, like a mammal. Those species are called ovoviviparous species, which literary means “egg-live-birth”. Chameleon birth is very quick, the baby frees itself from its egg pretty fast and can walk right away.
Baby chameleon birth from an egg is a very special sight. Mostly because the chameleon is so small, but can still walk, look around and change color. In this video you can see this baby cham do all of those things:
As you can see the baby chameleon was completely rolled up inside the egg. The egg shell is not hard like the egg of a chicken, but soft like in most reptile species. On this baby chameleon you can still see the connection of the bellybutton of the chameleon to the egg. This connection is between the chameleon and the inside of the egg, blood flows from the chameleon to this network of blood vessels around the inside of the egg. The embryo makes this network to be able to breath through the egg shell. When the chameleon is born the blood flow to this network is slowed down and later stopped, and the connection is servered. The vein network stays behind in the egg shell as it is no longer needed.
The next stunning picture shows how a baby chameleon fits inside an egg. It is all rolled up. This is how it develops inside the egg. Unfortunately this chameleon died before being born, prompting curious owners to take away the egg shell. Opening the egg reveiled how it was folded up inside the tiny egg.
