Love chameleons; how to find them?
I, personally, love chameleons. So much about them is fascinating. When I was on my 35-day Practical Field Guide Course with EcoTraining, one of my instructors would always spot a chameleon in a tree when we were driving back to camp at the end of the day. He was an eagle-eyed genius. How could he spot such a small animal within the leaves of a tree so often? Only after a while, when we learned more during the training every day, we found out how he did it. It is pretty straightforward. Here are three points that may be helpful to find them yourself.
First: Know your trees
Some people love studying trees, others hate it, but in either case, it is worth it for many things, including chameleons. Chameleons are arboreal, meaning they spend most of their lifetime in a tree and only leave it on certain occasions (more on this later). They prefer trees that keep their leaves throughout the year and do not lose them in winter. This provides them cover and protection from potential predators like snakes, lizards or birds. A chameleon usually stays in the same tree for most of its life. If you find one and remember the tree’s location, as my instructor did, chances are high that it can be spotted there repeatedly.
Second: Look for the right colour
It is well-known that chameleons can change their colour due to their mood or changing temperature. When resting in the trees in the evening and at night, they usually are very light green. If you want to find a chameleon, you could try to see the shape of the animal with its prehensile tail, which holds itself onto the branch like a hand, or the big, prominent eyes that cover roughly 340° vision.
But next time, try to look for the colour. It is a little easier to just look for a whitish or very light spot within the green canopy of a tree. Using a spotlight may also be helpful, as the light colour of the reptile’s body reflects the light and makes it a bit easier to see.
Third: Remember the ground
Of course, you could also (but rarely) stumble upon a chameleon on the road right in front of you. As mentioned above, they leave their favourite tree only for two special occasions. One is finding a partner to mate with, and the other is finding a place for the females to lay the eggs after mating. Chameleons live solitary and territorial, meaning they do not share the tree they live in with another animal of the same species. To look for a potential mate, they must climb down and walk on the ground to find one. It is the funniest thing to see a chameleon walk. Without the protection of the canopy of leaves it is very dangerous for the small reptile to walk in full sight on the ground. Therefore, it strolls, moving only one leg at a time and keeping the whole body moving back and forth like a leaf that is slightly blown by the wind.
Could you find them?
It became my favourite to scan the trees with the spotlight on evening drives, looking for pale spots in evergreen trees. It may become a habit for you now, too, and you can get a better look at these fascinating creatures in the South African bush.
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35-Day Field Guide Practical l Course Spotlight
We join EcoTraining students Debbie, Maurice and Stephane at Pridelands. They started their journey with EcoTraining by enrolling and completing their Online Field Guide course and then decided to come and do their practical component. They came together at Pridelands, where they started their 35-day Field Guide Practical course—thrilled with the real-time experiences and incredible wildlife sightings one can only have when in the field.
