Chameleon’s Eyes Have Been Hiding a Secret

Their wandering gaze results from a structural adaptation in their nerves

Originally published By Devin Reese in Nautilus, on November 10, 2025


 Chameleons’ bulging eyes do strange things; they swivel in different directions like periscopes as they peer around their surroundings. One eye may be fixed on you, while the other eye is trained on an insect scuttling away.

Though scientists have been fascinated by this ability for centuries, the physiological mechanism that makes it possible has remained mysterious. Until now.

A team of researchers has discovered that chameleons possess two coiled optic nerves that operate independently to bring two separate scenes into the reptile’s focus. They report their findings in a Scientific Reports paper published November 10,2025.

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