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The femalesof
Furciferoustaleti
, theMalagasyGiant Chameleon,areveryattractively colored.
All photos:FrankSchäfer
ow largecan itgrow?
Infactnobodyknowsprecisely.Thereare
rumors of individuals up toameter long,but
the largest specimenmeasured to date was
“only”68.5cm in length.Butthat istotal length,
ie includingthetail.
Distribution
TheMalagasyGiantChameleon is found inthe
coastal lowlands ofMadagascar. It is found all
overthe island,but itsoccurrence intheeastern
part of Madagascar is linked to the relatively
high temperatures there. The species is well-
H
The huge island of Madagascar off the East African coast is an Eldorado for
zoologists.The island,which is the fourth largest in theworld,separatedoff from
the ancient continent of Gondwana some 135 million years ago. Since then
evolutiontherehasfollowedauniquecourseandmorethan90%oftheMalagasy
speciesareendemic– inotherwordstheyoccurnowhereelseonEarth.Thereare
numerous chameleon speciesonMadagascar, including the largest chameleon
speciesofthemall,theMalagasyGiantChameleon,
Furciferoustaleti
.
TheMalagasyGiantChameleon
byThorstenHoltmann
adaptedtothehotsavannahclimateandhence
hasbenefitedfromalterationstothe landscape
resultingfromhumanactivity(deforestation).
There is supposedlyan introducedpopulation
in Kenya (Ngong Forest near Nairobi) and a
breeding population also exists in southern
Florida.
MalagasyGiantChameleonsandhumans
Chameleons are generally regarded as easily
upset. They are noted/notorious for some
particularly territorial species suffering stress-
induced kidney problems as the result of a
conspecificsimplybeingconstantly inview (for
example iftwo individualscanseeoneanother
in adjacent terrariums), and this can lead to
death!
TheMalagasyGiantChameleon is,however,a
comparatively calmandpeacefulmember of
thechameleon tribe.Malesdon’t tolerateone
another,andgravidfemalesarelikewisestrictly
solitary.Buttheycangenerallybekept inpairs
in an adequately large terrarium (a winter
gardenisalotbetterinviewofthesizeofthese
animals).
MalagasyGiant Chameleons also exhibit this
laid-backattitudetowardshumans.Theydon’t
get excessively upset even when they are
picked up carefully; and the threatening
mouth-opening known from many other
chameleons is seen in Malagasy Giant
Chameleons only if they are seriously
provoked.Researchers inthe fieldsaythatyou
can usually simply perch a Malagasy Giant
Chameleonon your shoulder and itwill stay
therequietly forhoursonend.
Lizards
