Scientists knew that a chameleon’s tongue contains sheaths surrounded by an “accelerator muscle. ” Now, with the aid of slow - motion video footage, Dutch researchers have discovered that a mere 200 milliseconds before its tongue strikes, “a chameleon uses the accelerator muscle to spring - load energy into the intralingual sheathes, packing them into one another like sections of a telescope.
Teadlased olid küll varem teadlikud, et kameeleoni keelekõõluseid ümbritsevad vedru - ehk ringlihased, kuid alles nüüd avastasid Hollandi teadlased aegluubis videot vaadates, et kõigest 200 tuhandiksekundit enne keele väljapaiskamist lükib kameeleon ringlihaste abil need kõõlused nagu teleskoobitorud üksteise sisse.