KC Mo. native's research reveals facts about lizard's life span

Associated Press - July 4, 2008 4:44 PM ET OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The frustration that Kris Karsten felt when the lizards he had traveled to Africa to study eventually led to quite a revelation by the Oklahoma State University researcher. Although scientists had known about the type of chameleon he was studying for more than a century, no one had ever realized that the lizard's life cycle lasts only a year. Karsten published his doctorate research on the tiny chameleon species Furcifer labordi this week in the "Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences." The Kansas City, Missouri, native says a 1-year life span is common among plants and insects, but almost unheard of in four-legged vertebrates. The chameleons from Madagascar spend the first four or five months of their lives inside their eggs and mate furiously after... [read full story]