LAURA LIKES TO POP BUBBLES OH MY GOD
July 28, 2015 12:15 PM   Subscribe

 
I thought she was going to use her tongue.
posted by Solomon at 12:18 PM on July 28, 2015


Oh, that's darling!
posted by MissySedai at 12:22 PM on July 28, 2015


that is much, much cuter then I thought it would be
posted by The Whelk at 12:23 PM on July 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


YES THIS IS THE BEST VIDEO
posted by poffin boffin at 12:24 PM on July 28, 2015


That fucking lizard is doing a slo-mo Kermit flail! It is the best lizard.
posted by bondcliff at 12:26 PM on July 28, 2015 [8 favorites]


ermagerd
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:27 PM on July 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


When you've got bubble-popping hands, everything looks like a bubble that needs popping.
posted by maxsparber at 12:27 PM on July 28, 2015 [13 favorites]


For a moment I thought the chameleon was cheering itself on: "pop the bubbles, pop the bubbles, pop pop gotta get em".
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 12:28 PM on July 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


Knowing nothing about lizards, I am holding my breath for the "this seemingly cute behaviour actually shows that this poor animal is sick/abused/stressed" revelation.
posted by sparklemotion at 12:28 PM on July 28, 2015 [18 favorites]




Man, that lizard is sooooo high.
posted by hydrophonic at 12:33 PM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


The hard part is watching this and NOT mimicking chameleon hands right afterwards.
posted by dinty_moore at 12:39 PM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


...afterwards?
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:40 PM on July 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


Or during. Or while thinking of it, weeks from now.

I'm going to be the weirdo on the bus doing chameleon hands and giggling to herself is what I'm saying.
posted by dinty_moore at 12:43 PM on July 28, 2015 [7 favorites]


Knowing nothing about lizards, I am holding my breath for the "this seemingly cute behaviour actually shows that this poor animal is sick/abused/stressed" revelation.

I can't get to Imgur from work, but a few days ago someone did in fact post a thing about how this was a fear response to being held aloft like that and chameleons will do it regardless of whether there are bubbles.
posted by Etrigan at 12:43 PM on July 28, 2015 [7 favorites]


I think this was it, Etrigan.
posted by dephlogisticated at 12:50 PM on July 28, 2015 [9 favorites]


Fear response or not (I hope that it's not), I am very happy to know of a chameleon named 'Laura'.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 12:51 PM on July 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


Not exactly sure why they can't just put the poor thing on a branch/perch and then blow bubbles over it, if it does actually enjoy the bubbles. Maybe that, instead of waving it around in what must feel like the chameleon equivalent of the worst earthquake ever.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 12:51 PM on July 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


I'm watching this while the epic symphonic end credits to Modern Warfare 3 play in the background and I have to tell you, this is funny as all hell.
posted by Palindromedary at 12:51 PM on July 28, 2015


Or maybe Laura likes to catch bubbles but is really really sucking at it.
posted by Mchelly at 1:10 PM on July 28, 2015


can't get to Imgur from work, but a few days ago someone did in fact post a thing about how this was a fear response to being held aloft like that and chameleons will do it regardless of whether there are bubbles.

Dammit. I do wish that Imgur post had had some kind of citations in it so I'd have a better idea of what to believe.
posted by sparklemotion at 1:11 PM on July 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


Everything good is bad. The reverse is not true.
posted by djeo at 1:24 PM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


I think we found a fine example of a video that is better for having been shot vertically.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 1:29 PM on July 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


Cooing at a lizard baby.
posted by Nevin at 1:54 PM on July 28, 2015


I'm no expert but I used to housesit for a friend who bred veiled chameleons (like the one in the video), so I'd come by to feed a dozen of them for a couple weeks at a time. Chameleons don't like to be handled, they say nope and try to climb away as soon as they can. That imgur link is right, they will try to grab onto anything because it's better than being held, and lizard brains don't understand running water or bubbles. Chameleons do not respond to voice commands, not even "pop the bubbles" or "good girl." They get stressed out by movement, noise, and probably that dog barking in the background of the video. They are very timid animals.

Sorry to be a downer, this is a idiot being mean to a cute creature for lols, it is not good animal care.
posted by peeedro at 2:18 PM on July 28, 2015 [26 favorites]


Aww, poor thing. My son's chameleon liked coming out of his cage to sit on shoulders, heads, and window sills. But then, he was never forcibly removed, we just left the door open for him to come out if it pleased him.
posted by MissySedai at 2:53 PM on July 28, 2015


Sorry to be a downer, this is a idiot being mean to a cute creature for lols, it is not good animal care.

In hindsight, this was perhaps not a good post. I'm sorry about that.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 3:05 PM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Don't feel bad lungful, it's not your fault! It is of course a shame that so many things non-human animals do that we humans find "cute" is in fact probably extremely problematic, because this is subjectively super-cute. But yeah, if I was being flailed around on a shaky meat-branch while somebody threw dozens of thin-skinned beach balls at me I would probably freak out and wave my arms too. And sure the chameleon will forget about this (probably) instantly and sure it's probably not going to do any long-term harm (though have you ever had a bubble pop in your eye? Chameleons are like 70% eye), but all in all: :-/
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:49 PM on July 28, 2015 [5 favorites]


But yeah, if I was being flailed around on a shaky meat-branch while somebody threw dozens of thin-skinned beach balls at me I would probably freak out and wave my arms too.

Well, there goes that icebreaker for the next meetup.
posted by Etrigan at 4:19 PM on July 28, 2015 [10 favorites]


But yeah, if I was being flailed around on a shaky meat-branch while somebody threw dozens of thin-skinned beach balls at me I would probably freak out and wave my arms too.

I am imagining a giant vengeful chameleon roaming the world doing exactly this to the creator of this video and all the inevitable copycats. It will be called... the Karma Chameleon. (*ducks*)

Seriously, though, seeing animals doing cute weird things is so lovely, and finding out that those cute things are a stress reaction is so disappointing, that I sometimes wish I didn't have a conscience.
posted by Soulfather at 5:43 PM on July 28, 2015 [6 favorites]


But yeah, if I was being flailed around on a shaky meat-branch while somebody threw dozens of thin-skinned beach balls at me

...you would be at a very specific kind of party

I would probably freak out and wave my arms too.

well, duh.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 5:43 PM on July 28, 2015


Boy, my reaction was to note that chameleons apparently have crappy vision, but it seems I just wasn't aiming high enough.
posted by rhizome at 5:47 PM on July 28, 2015


And sure the chameleon will forget about this (probably) instantly and sure it's probably not going to do any long-term harm

It sure can. They are fragile and timid animals, you can easily stress them to death without trying. There's going to be plenty of variation between individuals, but Laura's pale color and her posture at the very end of the video where she sits down on his fingers is classic stressed out chameleon body language. They are not animals that live very long if you treat them like playthings.
posted by peeedro at 8:06 PM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Hmm, well, that was just conjecture on my part, I don't know that much about chameleons other than they are full-throttle awesome. I stand corrected!
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:56 PM on July 28, 2015


Or maybe Laura likes to catch bubbles but is really really sucking at it.
If Laura really did want to catch a bubble then that should be little problem for a creature that can target and catch a fly in 0.07 seconds with a tongue acceleration 4 times greater than a fighter jet.
posted by rongorongo at 4:21 AM on July 29, 2015


with a tongue acceleration 4 times greater than a fighter jet.

Oh good I've been meaning to update my Tindr profile.
posted by Lemurrhea at 5:07 AM on July 29, 2015 [5 favorites]


MetaFilter: tongue acceleration 4 times greater than a fighter jet.
posted by Quasirandom at 9:10 AM on July 29, 2015


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