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Graceful chameleon
Chameleo gracilis
6.45506, 3.39418
Field Notes
Description:
The Graceful chameleon, Chamaeleo gracilis is a species of chameleon native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is commonly around a foot long. Because of its abundance, it is heavily exploited by the pet trade.
Habitat:
The Graceful chameleon inhabits much of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal in the west to Angola in the south and Ethiopia in the east. It mostly lives in forests, though it tolerates bushy areas near plantations and savanna.
Notes:
We suspected that this one had strayed into the yard over the night with the help of the creeping plant (vine) that entangled the small trees on the bushy side of the fence. It became an instant celebrity on the morning of Labour Day. Many people are fascinated by chameleons because of their extraordinary ability to change its color to blend into its immediate surrounding. This was a great opportunity for just a few of us. We imagined it lacked black pigments when it would not adjust to my dark complexion, and then we dropped it on the dry grass on the floor. No change still. It was quite disappointing. Maybe it nervous ("...all eyes on me"). We had fun handling the docile green reptile, we were tempted to keep it (as pet). That was a responsibility many of us weren't ready for. And so we let it go. I put it on a falling branch of the vine, and it climbed it slowly. Soon, it displayed the quality we all craved to see. Its color changed gradually to match the vine. The dominant dark green bands on the body of the chameleon faded away and the chameleon was almost completely uniformly green in the last photo when it was well concealed in the heart of the vine.
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