The newborn, curled tightly in an egg-shaped ball, offers a rare insight into the life of a developing reptile.
小變色龍剛剛從殼中孵化出來，緊緊蜷縮著身體保持著在殼裡的形狀，讓人們看到難得一見的爬行動物新生命的發育過程。
Barely bigger than a dime, the newborn chameleon has its tail tucked over its shoulder.
小變色龍只比一角硬幣大了一點點，把尾巴緊緊縮在肩膀上
Looks like someone needs a wake-up call: This newborn baby chameleon hadn't yet realized it had hatched.
看起來某人需要叫醒服務了：這隻新生變色龍還完全沒有意識到自己已經來到了這個世界上
Nick Henn, owner of Canvas Chameleons in Reading, Pennsylvania, recently captured photographs of the panther chameleon after he helped it break out of its shell. Using cuticle clippers, Henn delicately cut away the egg and expected the baby to jump to attention. Thinking it was still in its shell, the dime-size reptile stayed curled in a egg-shaped ball, its tail tucked over its shoulder—giving us a rare peek into a developing chameleon's world.
尼克·海恩是賓夕法尼亞州雷丁市的一家叫做「帆布變色龍」的寵物店的店主，最近他在幫助一隻美洲豹變色龍破殼而出後還幫它拍攝了照片。他用角質剪小心翼翼的剪掉蛋殼，原本希望小傢伙會立即跳出來看到他，可是沒想到，小傢伙仍然以為自己還在蛋殼裡，蜷著身體還像一個蛋的形狀，把尾巴縮在肩膀上，讓人們看到了難得一見的變色龍的發育過程。
Normally "you don't get to catch that moment when they first come out," Henn marvels.
海恩說道：正常情況下，「你是無法看到他們破殼而出的那個時刻的。」
It's unknown why the baby reptile didn't sense it was time to wake up, experts say.
專家稱，不知道為什麼小變色龍沒有感覺到醒來的時刻到了。
Bringing Up Baby
Growing up, Henn always longed for a blue panther chameleon, a species native to Madagascar. "It was like my life goal," he says, laughing. Once out of college, Henn started to breed and raise chameleons, particularly his beloved panther chameleons.
從小到達，海恩一直渴望自己能擁有一直藍色的美洲豹變色龍，這是生長於馬達加斯加島的一種動物。「這就像是我人生的目標，」他一邊說一邊笑。大學一畢業，海恩就開始養變色龍，尤其是他最愛的美洲豹變色龍。
Under Henn's close watch, the panther chameleon eggs grow in their leathery shells for seven to eight months. When the big day arrives, the chameleon uses a special "egg tooth" on its upper jaw to slit the egg's inner membrane, which then contracts.
在海恩的細心培育下，美洲豹變色龍的蛋會在帶皮的蛋殼裡生長7到8個月。當孵化的時候來臨的時候，變色龍幼崽就會用它們前爪的「蛋齒」劃破蛋內膜，然後就來到了世界上。
It's "like a swimmer peeling off a wet bathing suit," says Robin Andrews, a biologist at Virginia Tech. The baby can then crack—or pip—the end of the egg near its head to wiggle free. The whole process can take up to a day.
這「就像一個遊泳的人劃破溼著的泳衣，」佛吉尼亞技術研究所的生物學家羅賓·安德魯斯這樣說道。然後變色龍幼崽就會繼續破殼，然後扭動身體直到破殼而出。整個過程可能會持續一天的時間。
Panther chameleons are usually a hardy bunch, Henn explains, but this particular baby pipped the side of its egg and got stuck on its way out. In the wild, if a chameleon isn't strong enough to break free of its egg, it dies.
海恩還說，美洲豹變色龍通常比較勇敢，但是這隻小幼崽的殼只破了一邊就卡住了。在野外，如果小幼崽不夠強壯不能夠自己破殼而出，那麼它就會死去。
Luckily, Henn came to the rescue. But why did the chameleon not wake right away? No one knows for sure. It's possible there wasn't much light at the time. In Henn's experience, when captive chameleons are exposed to light, "they wake up and know it is time to rock and roll," Henn says.
幸好，海恩拯救了這隻小幼崽。但是為什麼小幼崽沒有馬上醒來呢？沒有人知道答案。也許是當時沒有足夠的光。依海恩的經驗來看，當被抓住的變色龍看到光，「他們就會醒來，然後知道應該搖動逃跑。」海恩解釋道。
Avid sunbathers, chameleons are very sensitive to light, relying on the sun to warm their bodies and set their internal clocks. The reptiles sense light through a receptor on their head. "It’s kind of like a window for them. It senses the time of day and the light cycles," explains Brett Baldwin, animal care manager at the San Diego Zoo.
變色龍喜歡曬太陽，因此對光非常敏感，它們依靠光來取暖，並設定生物鐘。爬行動物通過腦袋上的一個接收器感受光。「這個接收器就像是它們的一扇窗。能感受到一天當中的時間和光的循環。」聖地牙哥動物園的動物管理員布雷特·鮑德溫解釋道。
Overall, incubating chameleon eggs in captivity is a "very tricky and complicated process," says Baldwin. The developing babies are sensitive to any slight differences in humidity and temperature.
總的來說，孵化變色龍是一個「非常複雜和困難的過程」，鮑德溫說道。蛋殼裡面的小幼崽對任何輕微的溼度和溫度的變化都會非常敏感。
In the wild, though, baby chameleons hatch in dark underground burrows, so light shouldn't matter—and may even prevent them from breaking out of the shell, explains Andrews.
但是在野外，變色龍幼崽是在黑暗的地洞裡孵化的，所以說光對它應該影響不大——甚至如果有光應該會影響到它們的孵化。安德魯斯解釋道。
"Just looking at the pictures," says Baldwin, "I would have thought, 'Oh, that guy died in the egg.'"
「看看圖片，我會想，小傢伙是不是死在裡面了。」鮑德溫說道。
That's the reality in the wild: Many creatures lay a large number of eggs because most of their young won't survive. Tiny chameleons in particular are tasty morsels to predators.
這就是野外的現實：很多生物下了很多蛋，因為很多幼崽都無法存活下來，而小變色龍又是其天敵的美食。
As for this panther chameleon, it's alive and well after its ordeal. Sometimes all you need is a little helping hand.
但是就這隻小幼崽來說，它活下來了，而且在經歷了嚴酷考驗之後活得還很好。有時候，人們需要了只是一點小小的幫助。