Chameleons are some of the most versatile of lizards. They live in baking deserts and freezing mountaintops and part of their success hinges on a weapon that works just as well in the warmth as in the cold – its tongue. Relying on stored elastic power for its ballistic strike, the chameleon’s tongue is largely cold-proof. At temperatures that would flummox most reptile muscles, the tongue carries on snatching insects with great efficiency.

Chameleon tongues can reach twice the length of their body in less than a tenth of a second, latching onto prey with a sticky, grasping tip. Rather than pushing it forward with muscle power, like a spear-thrower, the chameleon behaves more like an archer. It ratchets the tongue