A slow motion video of a chameleon as it snares its prey has revealed the creature 's incredible tongue acrobatics . Captured at 1,500 frames per second , the video shows the chameleon attacking a cricket with remarkable speed and skill . To do this , the Panther chameleon shoots out its tongue to almost twice its body length in little more than 0.07 seconds . Scroll down for video . A slow motion video of a chameleon as it snares its prey has revealed its tongue acrobatics in incredible detail . Captured at 1,500 frames per second , this screenshot shows the chameleon attacking a cricket . The video , captured by BBC Earth Unplugged , reveals how the tongue reaches around 41G - is four times faster than the maximum acceleration of a fighter jet . The creatures have a bone in the base of their tongue which fixes the powerful muscles , along with special tissue that effectively works as a spring . When a muscle called the long accelerator contracts , the retractor muscles relaxes . This causes other muscles to press against collagen springs , giving it incredible power and speed . Location : Northern parts of Madagascar , Réunion and Mauritius . Size : Male panther chameleons can grow up to 20 inches in length , with a typical length of around 17 in ( 45 cm ) . Females are smaller , at about half the size . Lifespan : Two to five years . Reproduction : Panther chameleons reach sexual maturity at a minimum age of seven months . Females usually live only two to three years after giving birth . The tongue ’ s tip is a bulbous ball of muscle , and as it hits its prey it forms a small suction cup . With eyes that operate independently like gun turrets , the remarkable reptile also has a full 360-degree arc of vision around itself . In January , new measurements showed a chameleon tongue moving with the highest power yet documented for a vertebrate motion . The South African chameleon species Bradypodion thamnobates releases its tongue with up to 41,000 watts of power per kilogram of muscle involved . Previous studies didn ’ t record anything so high because they focused on larger chameleons , the Brown University study said . When comparing body-size relationship with tongue performance , smaller species had tongues that were much more powerful that bigger ones in various mouth athletics . The Panther chameleon shoots out its tongue to almost twice its body length in little more than 0.07 seconds . The tongue ’ s tip is a bulbous ball of muscle , and as it hits its prey it forms a small suction cup dragging it in .
The video , by BBC Earth Unplugged , features a Panther chameleon . It shows the creature shooting its flexible tongue out in 0.07 seconds . Tongue reaches 41G - four times faster than acceleration of a fighter jet .