Comments on: LAURA LIKES TO POP BUBBLES OH MY GOD

LAURA LIKES TO POP BUBBLES OH MY GOD

a lungful of dragon — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:15:55 -0800

Local chameleon overwhelms public with cuteness

By: Solomon

Solomon — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:18:49 -0800

I thought she was going to use her tongue.

By: MissySedai

MissySedai — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:22:31 -0800

Oh, that's darling!

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:23:11 -0800

that is much, much cuter then I thought it would be

By: poffin boffin

poffin boffin — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:24:01 -0800

YES THIS IS THE BEST VIDEO

By: bondcliff

bondcliff — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:26:49 -0800

That fucking lizard is doing a slo-mo Kermit flail! It is the best lizard.

By: feckless fecal fear mongering

feckless fecal fear mongering — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:27:31 -0800

ermagerd

By: maxsparber

maxsparber — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:27:49 -0800

When you've got bubble-popping hands, everything looks like a bubble that needs popping.

By: urbanwhaleshark

urbanwhaleshark — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:28:00 -0800

For a moment I thought the chameleon was cheering itself on: "pop the bubbles, pop the bubbles, pop pop gotta get em".

By: witchen

witchen — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:28:18 -0800

Ahhhh! I love chameleons' little grabby hands! Everything they do with those lil' grabbers is just too much!!!!

By: sparklemotion

sparklemotion — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:28:52 -0800

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.

By: feckless fecal fear mongering

feckless fecal fear mongering — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:29:48 -0800

relevant

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:33:01 -0800

Man, that lizard is sooooo high.

By: dinty_moore

dinty_moore — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:39:28 -0800

The hard part is watching this and NOT mimicking chameleon hands right afterwards.

By: feckless fecal fear mongering

feckless fecal fear mongering — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:40:06 -0800

...afterwards?

By: dinty_moore

dinty_moore — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:43:08 -0800

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.

By: Etrigan

Etrigan — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:43:43 -0800

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.

By: dephlogisticated

dephlogisticated — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:50:44 -0800

I think this was it, Etrigan.

By: sandettie light vessel automatic

sandettie light vessel automatic — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:51:09 -0800

Fear response or not (I hope that it's not), I am very happy to know of a chameleon named 'Laura'.

By: BigHeartedGuy

BigHeartedGuy — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:51:15 -0800

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.

By: Palindromedary

Palindromedary — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:51:33 -0800

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.

By: Mchelly

Mchelly — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 13:10:53 -0800

Or maybe Laura likes to catch bubbles but is really really sucking at it.

By: sparklemotion

sparklemotion — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 13:11:06 -0800

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.

By: djeo

djeo — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 13:24:26 -0800

Everything good is bad. The reverse is not true.

By: AlonzoMosleyFBI

AlonzoMosleyFBI — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 13:29:19 -0800

I think we found a fine example of a video that is better for having been shot vertically.

By: Nevin

Nevin — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 13:54:56 -0800

Cooing at a lizard baby.

By: peeedro

peeedro — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 14:18:47 -0800

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.

By: MissySedai

MissySedai — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 14:53:19 -0800

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.

By: a lungful of dragon

a lungful of dragon — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 15:05:15 -0800

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.

By: turbid dahlia

turbid dahlia — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 15:49:18 -0800

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: :-/

By: Etrigan

Etrigan — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 16:19:27 -0800

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.

By: Soulfather

Soulfather — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 17:43:32 -0800

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.

By: feckless fecal fear mongering

feckless fecal fear mongering — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 17:43:57 -0800

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.

By: rhizome

rhizome — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 17:47:03 -0800

Boy, my reaction was to note that chameleons apparently have crappy vision, but it seems I just wasn't aiming high enough.

By: peeedro

peeedro — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 20:06:34 -0800

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.

By: turbid dahlia

turbid dahlia — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 21:56:47 -0800

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!

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 04:21:45 -0800

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.

By: Lemurrhea

Lemurrhea — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 05:07:38 -0800

with a tongue acceleration 4 times greater than a fighter jet. Oh good I've been meaning to update my Tindr profile.

By: Quasirandom

Quasirandom — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 09:10:00 -0800

MetaFilter: tongue acceleration 4 times greater than a fighter jet.