Lost for more than 100 years

Lost for more than 100 years

by Alex Laube Internationaler Chamäleontag

Did you know that there is a chameleon that was considered lost for over 100 years? Voeltzkow’s chameleon (Furcifer voeltzkowi) was last seen in 1913. Since then, it was considered lost because neither the exact location where it was found nor what the females looked like was known. In fact, the species lived completely undisturbed in western Madagascar on a peninsula directly opposite the large coastal town of Mahajanga. Until 2018, when a German-Madagascan research team set out to rediscover the long-lost species. They succeeded – in a hotel garden! The main reason why the species had not been observed for so long is probably due to the poor accessibility of the peninsula on which they live and the short lifespan of the animals. It is assumed that, like Furcifer labordi, a closely related species, they only live for a few months. They can therefore only be found at a certain time of year.

#showyourcolours #internationalchameleonday #chameleonday #chameleondayMay9 #agchamaeleons

Photos: Furcifer voeltzkowi, male and female, photographed by Alex Laube

Colouring chameleons

Colouring chameleons

by Alex Laube Internationaler Chamäleontag

Time to colour! We’ve put together lots of colouring pictures that all kinds of websites have to offer for free. Just click on them and you’ll be redirected to the website offering them. Then print them out and off you go! Grab your coloured pencils, felt-tip pens or whatever else you use and get colouring! Incidentally, the colouring pictures are not just for children – there are also suitable, slightly more difficult templates for adults. A little time out on a holiday is certainly not a bad idea.

#show your colours #internationalchameleonday #chameleonday #chameleondayMay9 #agchamaeleons

 

 

 

Show your tongue!

by Alex Laube Internationaler Chamäleontag

The tongue of chameleons is something very special: chameleons use it to catch their food in a spectacular way by shooting with it. For a long time, it was thought that one of the tongue muscles was responsible for the shooting power. Today we know that an apparatus consisting of many layers of collagen fibres provides the necessary shooting ability. Put simply, the chameleon tongue works like a kind of catapult with a rubber band, only in milliseconds. The structure of the tongue is explained in more detail here.

The chameleon’s tongue shoots out of its mouth with incredible acceleration, hits the food and is then slowly retracted again. The chameleon closes its eyes to prevent injury to these valuable sensory organs when the tongue and insect retract. When fully “extended”, the tongue of most chameleons is one and a half times as long as the body, and in very small species such as ground chameleons it can be up to two and a half times as long. A truly remarkable organ!

 

#showyourcolours #internationalchameleonday #chameleonday #chameleondayMay9 #agchamaeleons

Video: Madcham.de

Chameleon DAY? Chameleon WEEKEND!

Chameleon DAY? Chameleon WEEKEND!

by Alex Laube AG Interna Internationaler Chamäleontag

And for those who have acquired a taste for chameleons and can’t get enough of them: There is not only an International Chameleon Day this year, but also a whole weekend dedicated to chameleons! Our 2024 conference is the right place for you. From 24 to 26 May 2024, chameleon friends from all over the world will meet in Fulda, Germany, to exchange experiences, learn tips and tricks and pursue their shared hobby, the world of chameleons. We have prepared a colourful series of lectures and a photo competition. Anyone who is interested can register without obligation via our website. We look forward to seeing “old friends”, but also new faces!

#showyourcolours #internationalchameleonday #chameleonday #chameleondayMay9 #agchamaeleons #chameleonweekend #chameleonconference

Can you keep chameleons as a pet?

Can you keep chameleons as a pet?

by Alex Laube Internationaler Chamäleontag

For many, many years, chameleons were considered “untenable”. While dogs and cats have accompanied humans for centuries, supposedly more “exotic” species were only later discovered as potential pets. However, due to their not entirely low husbandry requirements, chameleons were always somewhat marginalised for decades. It wasn’t until the 1990s that more and more keepers were able to successfully keep and breed different species of chameleons thanks to major developments in terrarium technology. Today, there are even several species that can be recommended with a clear conscience even to beginners in the herpetoculture hobby. So a lot has happened in the hobby. A few decades ago, chameleons or individual species were still considered “untenable”, but today we have a large number of positive husbandry reports on a wide variety of species from all over the world. The magazine of the AG Chameleons, CHAMAELEO, has been publishing such husbandry reports for many years. Sorted by species, you can find over a hundred of them here: Overview of husbandry reports.

#show your colours #internationalchameleonday #chameleonday #chameleondayMay9 #agchamaeleons

Picture: Panther chameleon, one of the most commonly kept species in herpetoculture, photographed by Bernard Dupont, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Tail comparison

Tail comparison

by Alex Laube Internationaler Chamäleontag

Chameleons have a unique, movable tail. It is an extension of the spine and can be completely curled up to make the chameleon appear larger. The animals make use of this, for example, when they threaten conspecifics. Due to the shape of the vertebrae, the tail can only be curled downwards – even if Disney somehow didn’t realise this. Tree-dwelling chameleons usually have a tail that is about as long as their body. One exception is Furcifer balteatus, which has proportionally the longest tail. Tree-dwelling chameleons use their tails for gripping when climbing and can easily hang their entire body weight from them. Ground-dwelling chameleons usually only have a short stumpy tail, which is only placed on the ground for stabilisation when walking.

#show your colours #internationalchameleonday #chameleonday #chameleondayMay9 #agchamaeleons

Photo: Tail of a Parson’s chameleon, photographed by Alex Laube

The panoramic view

The panoramic view

by Alex Laube Internationaler Chamäleontag

Chameleons are known for being able to move their eyes independently of each other. They protrude far from the skull and are completely covered with scaly eyelid skin except for a narrow iris and the pupil. This anatomical peculiarity gives chameleons the effect of a pinhole camera in both eyes, allowing them to see much more clearly. Chameleons can see up to one kilometre (!) away. The focusing speed is around 60 dioptres per second – four times what a human is capable of. Chameleons mainly see colours and little contrast, which makes them practically blind at night. Small oil droplets that accumulate on the cones also provide chameleons with a kind of “built-in sunglasses”. But chameleon eyes can do much more! The chameleon has an incredibly large field of vision of 90° vertically and 180° horizontally. The total field of vision is a fantastic 342°! Only over the back directly behind the head is there a blind spot of 18°, in which a chameleon can see nothing. By comparison, humans only have a paltry 189° field of vision. Chameleons also have very special lenses. The chameleon’s range of accommodation is an incredible 45 dioptres. Humans can accommodate just 15 dioptres when they are young, and even less when they are older. However, it is not known whether the chameleon’s visual acuity decreases with age.

#show your colours #internationalchameleonday #chameleonday #chameleondayMay9 #agchamaeleons

Foto: Auge eines Pantherchamäleons, fotografiert von Brice Miller, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

The hands and feet of chameleons

The hands and feet of chameleons

by Alex Laube Internationaler Chamäleontag

Chameleons can move perfectly on thin and thick branches. Their modified hands and feet enable them to do this. The bones of both hands and feet are very similar to those of humans. The only difference is that they are divided into small grasping pincers so that the chameleon can hold on to branches better. This makes climbing much easier for them than for us! On the hands, two fingers point outwards and three inwards. On the feet it is the other way round. This situation of “grown together” fingers is called syndactyly. There is a small, pointed claw on each finger and each toe. These claws enable the females to dig effectively so that they can later lay their eggs. This is why the claws of some species become longer than usual during the breeding season.

#show your colours #internationalchameleonday #chameleonday #chameleondayMay9 #agchamaeleons

Abbildung: aus The Osteology of Reptiles, 1925
Foto: Chamaeleo zeylanicus, fotografiert von Hari K Patibanda, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

Eggs or no eggs

by Alex Laube Internationaler Chamäleontag

Chameleons lay eggs! But not all of them. There are two ways in which chameleons reproduce. The vast majority of chameleons actually lay eggs. The eggs are usually white to beige in colour, soft-shelled and small. Egg-laying species include the genera Brookesia, Calumma, Chamaeleo, Furcifer, Kinyongia, Nadzikambia, Palleon, Rhampholeon and Rieppeleon. The smallest eggs are laid by a small, brown ground chameleon from Madagascar, Brookesia nana. They are less than 10 mm in size! The largest eggs are laid by the Parson’s chameleon, Calumma parsonii parsonii, which also comes from Madagascar. Its eggs are several centimetres long at the end of the incredibly long incubation phase of one and a half years. Incidentally, most eggs are laid by the large Meller’s chameleons (Trioceros melleri) and Veiled chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus), although the latter are considerably smaller. With heavy feeding in captivity, Veiled chameleon females can produce over 50 eggs, which is an incredible number for such a small animal. The Meller’s chameleon has even been known to lay over 80 eggs.

In contrast, the genera Archaius, Bradypodion and many species of the genus Trioceros are ovoviviparous. This means that these chameleons give birth to live young that are still surrounded by a thin egg membrane at birth. It is assumed that this is an adaptation to cooler temperatures. This is because the egg-bearing chameleons live high up on mountains, where it does not get as warm as further down in the country.

#show your colours #internationalchameleonday #chameleonday #chameleondayMay9 #agchamaeleons

Video: BBC Earth, Frozen Planet II

Who has the most horns?

Who has the most horns?

by Alex Laube Internationaler Chamäleontag

Many chameleons have horns or other rostral appendages. But who has the most? The regular one is the four-horned chameleon, Trioceros quadricornis. It occurs in Cameroon and Nigeria. The males of this species in particular usually have four real horns on their nose. The subspecies Trioceros quadricornis gracilior can even occasionally have up to six horns – but this horn record is not common. Incidentally, even the females of this species can be horned – this is not the case with many other species.

Incidentally, a distinction is made between true horns and false horns in chameleons. Chameleons with true horns have a bony process on their nose that is covered by a thin layer of keratin. This keratin layer develops from a single scale. These true horns are mainly found in the genus Trioceros. In contrast, false horns also have a bony base, but are covered with normal, scaly skin. False horns are found in many Malagasy chameleons. Finally, there are dermal horns, which consist only of skin. They are soft, flexible and have no bone underneath. These horns are also mainly found in Malagasy chameleons.

#show your colours #internationalchameleonday #chameleonday #chameleondayMay9 #agchamaeleons

Photo: Jackson’s chameleon, Trioceros jacksonii, also has real horns; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, fotografiert von Benjamint444