10 most difficult reptiles riddles

Colour change in chameleons has various functions, depending on the species, but the most common is social signalling. Only a few species, such as Smith's dwarf chameleon, also adjust their colours for camouflage

Synapsids were the largest terrestrial vertebrates in the Permian period, 299 to 251 million years ago, although some of the larger pareiasaurs at the end of Permian could match them in size.

The leatherback sea turtle, the only extant member of the family Dermochelyidae, is the largest of all living turtles and is the fourth largest modern reptile behind three crocodilians. In the Caribbean, the mean size of adults was reported at 384 kg (850 lb) in weight. The largest ever found weighed 916 kilograms (2,020 lb).

Henri de Blainville (1777-1850) was a French zoologist and anatomist. In the field of herpetology, he adopted Latreille's proposal of separating Amphibia from Reptilia, and then (1816) developed a unique arrangement in regards to sub-groupings, using organs of generation as primary criteria. He described several new species of reptiles. It was in 1822 that he coined the term paleontology.

The saltwater crocodile is the largest of all living reptiles, reaching up to 6.3 m and 1,360 kg. It may be found from Northern Australia to the eastern coast of India.

King cobra's diet consists primarily of other snakes, including rat snakes, small pythons, and even other venomous snakes such as various members of the true cobras and the krait. When food is scarce, it also feeds on other small vertebrates, such as lizards, birds, and rodents.

Leatherback turtles are one of the deepest diving marine animals. Individuals have been recorded diving to depths as great as 1,280 meters (4,200 ft). Such depths are unreachable for turtles with hard shells, as these would have been crushed by the pressure.

This species is the largest snake native to Asia. More than a thousand wild reticulated pythons in southern Sumatra were studied and estimated to have a length range of 1.5 to 6.5 m (4.9 to 21.3 ft) and a weight range of 1 to 75 kg (2.2 to 165.3 lb). Reticulated pythons with lengths more than 6 m (19.7 ft) are rare, though according to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the only extant snake to regularly exceed that length. A reticulated python of the same length as a green anaconda may weigh only half as much as the bulkier anaconda.

The king cobra is unusual among snakes in that the female is a very dedicated parent. For the nest, the female scrapes up leaves and other debris into a mound, and stays in the nest until the young hatch. She guards the mound tenaciously, rearing up into a threat display if any large animal gets too close. When the eggs start to hatch, the female leaves the nest.

Estivation is a state of animal dormancy, similar to hibernation, that is entered in response to high temperatures and arid conditions. Many air-breathing land snails commonly estivate during periods of heat. Animals that aestivate include North American desert tortoises, crocodiles, salamanders, African lung fish and dwarf lemurs.