REPTILE SNAPS OWN PICTURE WITH FLICK OF THE TONGUE (Oct, 1948)

REPTILE SNAPS OWN PICTURE WITH FLICK OF THE TONGUE
Too fast to be seen by the human eye, the long tongues of chameleons and toads dart in and out as they eat. Their tongue tips are tacky and the food, usually small insects, sticks to the tips and is thrown back into their mouths. To photograph the action, London Zoo technicians designed a trigger device that fires a Dawe electronic flash lamp as the tongue hits the food
Top, stopped by an exposure of two mil-lionths of a second, tongue of chameleon is fully extended as it darts after food. Below, a toad gets his dinner. Right, the circuit used in top pictures. For photos of toad, two copper plates were used, one for the toad and the second for the food. Tongue completes circuit by touching food plate. Current was too minute to be felt.