Co-Sleeping in Chamaeleo zeylanicus (India)

Co-Sleeping in Chamaeleo zeylanicus (India)

by Alex Negro Beobachtungen

A small publication recently focussed on observations of chameleons in India. Four researchers were travelling in the state of Karnataka in India and repeatedly observed chameleons at night. On a good 20 occasions, they observed single sleeping animals. However, two observations stood out from the others.

In July 2021, they observed two Chamaeleo zeylanicus sleeping less than five centimetres apart on the same branch in Narasimha Betta. A similar picture presented itself to them a little later in July of the same year in Devarayana Durga, 53 km away from the first observation. The chameleons were located in well vegetated hilly scrubland interspersed with rocks.

Unfortunately, the authors were unable to determine the sexes of the animals. As the observations were both made during the monsoon, the reproductive season of the Indian chameleon, they assume mate guarding. This involves a male ‘guarding’ a mated female for several days in order to increase his reproductive success.

Co-Sleeping in the Indian Chameleon Chamaeleo zeylanicus Laurenti, 1768
Nitya P. Mohanty, Krishna Murthy, B.R. Ansil, Ashwin Viswanathan
Herpetology Notes 2024, 17: 679-681.
DOI: not available

Photo: Sleeping Chamaeleo zeylanicus, photographed byDr. Raju Kasambe, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

The new CHAMAELEO is out now!

The new CHAMAELEO is out now!

by Alex Negro AG Interna Beobachtungen CHAMAELEO Haltungsberichte Science

Good things come to those who wait: we have just received the latest issues of CHAMAELEO 49. They will now go into the mail as soon as possible and will then be on their way to all AG members. The current contents can be found here. And if you are not yet a member of the AG Chameleons, you might want to become one soon! How do you like the current issue? Do you have any comments, wishes or criticism? Too thick, too thin, too much English, too little? ;) We look forward to your feedback!

Chameleons as prey of Compsophis infralineatus

Chameleons as prey of Compsophis infralineatus

by Alex Negro Beobachtungen Science

Some interesting observations were recently made in central eastern Madagascar. Two snakes of the species Compsophis infralineatus were observed trying to devour chameleons as prey. Overall, not much is known about these snakes, but they were long thought to be primarily frog and egg eaters. An observation from 2018 already reports an attempt by another Compsophis species to eat a chameleon, which was regurgitated.

The current observations were made in the private rainforest of Vallombre Natiora near Mandraka. During night walks, an adult Compsophis infralineatus was discovered eating an adult Calumma gastrotaenia. The entire process of consumption was not observed, the snake had disappeared on return to the site, as had the chameleon. The authors assume that the chameleon was successfully devoured. On the same night, another snake of the same species was seen attempting to eat an adult Calumma crypticum. The chameleon was still alive and tried to free itself from the snake’s coils, but seemed unsuccessful first. Later, the same snake was seen again, hanging with its mouth in the back of the chameleon, which was apparently still alive but no with the snake wrapped around it. In the photo, it appears that the chameleon is still alive.

Predation on the chameleons Calummy crypticum Raxworthy and Nussbaum, 2006 and C. gastrotaenia (Boulenger, 1888) by the snake Compsophis infralineatus (Günther 1882) near Mandaka, Madagascar
Devin A. Edmonds and Samina S. Sam-Edmonds
Herpetology Notes (17), 2024: pp. 327-328
DOI:  not available

Picture: from the above-mentioned publication, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0