Panther chameleons in Madagascar

Panther chameleons in Madagascar

General topics Verbreitung Newspaper articles

In the bi-monthly magazine of the DGHT e.V., the Elaphe, a nice article on the panther chameleons of Madagascar has been published. It was written by two members of the AG Chamäleons who regularly travel to the island.

The article describes in words and pictures the distribution area of the panther chameleons on Madagascar, which extends over the northern half of the island, more precisely from a few kilometres south of the village of Ankaramibe in the northwest to the north of Madagascar and down the east coast to about 90 km south of the port city of Toamasina. The chameleons are found mainly in secondary vegetation in open landscapes, but also in cocoa plantations, overgrown gardens and rainforests.

The life cycle of the panther chameleons in Madagascar is mainly determined by the rainy season between November and March. The chameleons mate during this time. After 30 to 40 days, the females lay between 11 and 35 eggs in a nest they have dug themselves. The young hatch only in the next rainy season.

The article goes into particular detail about the different local forms, the different colour appearance of the male panther chameleons depending on the location. The authors currently count more than 30 different local forms on Madagascar, which are separated from each other by natural barriers such as rivers. There are probably many more, but not all of them have been discovered yet.

Pantherchamäleons (Furcifer pardalis) – Meister der Farben
Thorsten Negro and Alexandra Laube
Elaphe 3, 2023, pp. 12-25

Photo: Panther chameleon of the local form Ambanja on Madagascar, photographed by Thorsten Negro.

Chameleons at different altitudes of the Amber Mountain (Madagascar)

Chameleons at different altitudes of the Amber Mountain (Madagascar)

Science

International scientists have intensively studied the different altitudes of the Amber Mountain and the amphibians and reptiles found there. The Amber Mountain (French Montagne d’Ambre) is a former volcanic massif in northern Madagascar. The mountain, which is up to 1475 m high, is mainly covered by rainforest, which belongs to the national park of the same name. To the north of the mountain is a dry forest that belongs to the Forêt d’Ambre Special Reserve. The north-western flank of the mountain has not yet been protected.

In the present work, amphibians and reptiles were observed and sampled over 12 km between 700 and 1470 metres altitude. The western slope of the Montagne d’Ambre at altitudes between 770 and 1290 m was also included in the study for the first time. In addition, animals were sampled in the Forêt d’Ambre from 470 m altitude. All animals found were measured. Cheek swabs, scales as well as live animals that had been euthanised were collected and genetically analysed. A total of 2631 observations of 34 species of amphibians and 48 species of reptiles were made. As expected, different animals occurred at different altitudes. The species richness of the Montagne d’Ambre was greatest at around 1000 m a.s.l. with 41 different species. Above 1100 m, about one third of the species found were locally endemic.

Two genetic clusters of the earth chameleon Brookesia tuberculata have been identified. Group 1 lives on the eastern flank of the Montagne d’Ambre at altitudes of 887 to 1170 m, group 2 at 1260 to 1455 m on the eastern flank and at 956 to 1150 m on the western slope of the Montagne d’Ambre. Group 1 showed a particularly high number of mitochondrial haplotypes, while group 2 had only one haplotype. The scientists assume that due to their small body size and high site fidelity, the species tends to form isolated groups rather than tree-inhabiting chameleons, which can overcome natural barriers more easily and thus move within a much larger environmental radius.

In Calumma linotum, the genetic differences between three groups at different altitudes were rather small. The measurement data of various body dimensions also showed no clear trend for this species at the different altitudes. Although Calumma linotum appeared to be slightly smaller at lower altitudes, this could have been due to subadult individuals misidentified as females. For Calumma amber and Calumma ambreense, body size decreased the higher the chameleons were found in the Montagne d’Ambre. This may be related to the cooler temperatures at higher altitudes, which contribute to slower growth. But it could also be that more younger animals were simply measured.

The study reveals interesting adaptations of different chameleon species to the altitudinal differences of the Montagne d’Ambre. It is possible that these are already the first indications of an early stage of speciation. The work also illustrates how important the different altitudinal levels are for species diversity.

Repeated divergence of amphibians and reptiles across an elevational gradient in northern Madagascar
Mark D. Scherz, Robin Schmidt, Jason L. Brown, Julian Glos, Ella Z. Lattenkamp, Zafimahery Rakotomalala, Andolalao Rakotoarison, Ricky T. Rakotonindrina, Onja Randriamalala, Achille P. Raselimanana, Safidy M. Rasolonjatovo, Fanomezana M. Ratsoavina, Jary H. Razafindraibe, Frank Glaw, Miguel Vences
Ecology and Evolution 13 (3)
DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9914

Presentation in Dortmund about Madagascar

Presentation in Dortmund about Madagascar

Live lectures

Roland Zobel, a long-time member of the DGHT Dortmund City Group and self-confessed day gecko lover, will give a lecture full of pictures about a trip to the north of Madagascar on 07 April 2023 in Dortmund. There is much to discover in the north of the world’s second-largest island state, not only chameleons.

Roland Zobel Expedition Northern Madagascar
DGHT City group Dortmund
Restaurant “Olympia – Zur alten Post”
Im alten Dorf 2
59192 Bergkamen – Weddinghofen
Start of presentation 07.30 p.m.

Photo: Collage by Roland Zobel

Our conference programme for May 2023

Our conference programme for May 2023

AG Interna

After we were able to publish a preview of the conference programme in December last year, we now have the final conference programme. This year’s conference will take place from 05 to 07 May 2023 in the tranquil town of Boppard am Rhein. As experience shows that the weekends in Boppard are booked up quickly, we recommend that you look for a hotel or guesthouse soon. Our programme has become a nice mixture of keeping reports, general terraristics and travel reports. Friday is the traditional day for arrival and a pleasant dinner in the local restaurants.

Saturday starts with a classic husbandry and breeding report. Jean-Dominique Dufraine has been keeping Rieppeleon brevicaudatus and Archaius tigris for several years. He talks about his experiences in breeding, but also in the everyday keeping of the two species. Afterwards, Thorsten Negro will take us on a search for Parson’s Chameleons in their natural habitat in Madagascar.

In the afternoon, Oliver Witte will give us an exciting insight into law, legislation and terrarium keeping – don’t worry, it won’t be as dry as it sounds, but very interesting for chameleon keepers. As a highlight, the physicist Sarina Wunderlich from www.lichtimterrarium.de has also agreed to join us. LEDs are becoming increasingly popular in terrarium keeping, not least because they can save a lot of electricity. Sarina will show us the advantages and risks of LEDs and discuss the latest development, UV LEDs. After these two presentations, we have planned plenty of time for discussion and questions, because there will certainly be plenty to talk about. At the end of Saturday, Rayana Vuillemain will introduce us to the Association Caméléon Centre Conservation (Switzerland) – this is the only presentation in English.

Sunday will be another colourful day: Lars Dwinger will report on a Madagascar trip to the southern highlands and the central east of the island. He travelled between carpet chameleons and rice fields as well as in the rainforest of Ranomafana, where he met a variety of small and large chameleons. Markus Grimm will conclude with an overview of Chamaeleo chamaeleon in its natural habitat in Europe as well as keeping and breeding them in terrariums.

We are very much looking forward to a nice meeting and many chameleon friends!

Presentation in Neunkirchen about Madagascar

Presentation in Neunkirchen about Madagascar

Live lectures

The spokeswoman of the AG Chamäleons will give a lecture rich in pictures about not only, but also very many chameleons on 13th January 2023 in Neunkirchen (Saarland). Madagascar, located in the Indian Ocean a good 400 km east of the African mainland, is known for its extremely high biodiversity. The absolute hot spots are on the east coast of the island – reason enough to set out on an adventure in the north of Madagascar!

The journey takes you from the capital Antananarivo to Maroantsetra by tiny plane. A gentle introduction to camping can be found on the island of Nosy Mangabe, part of Masoala National Park. The golden sandy beaches of the “island of the leaf-tailed geckos” tell tales of thieving lemurs, glowing scorpions and snakes, which are preferably found behind the makeshift kitchen. The plane then takes the travellers to Sambava, the secret capital of vanilla. On foot, the expedition heads to the sacred mountain massif of Marojejy. In the tropical heat, the steep gorges and constant climbs are not easy terrains. But Marojejy is a paradise for herpetologists: almost innumerable chameleons, geckos, snakes, insects and other creatures can be found here with a little luck and skill. Last but not least, the high altitudes of the mystical rainforest are also home to the “angels of the forest”, the endangered silky sifakas.

Afterwards, the journey continues somewhat more comfortably in an off-road vehicle: on the notorious RN5 via Vohémar into the dry forest of Loky Manambato – a dry contrast programme! Via Ambilobe, Ambanja and Ankarana, the last destination of the adventure trip beckons: The fantastic rainforest of the Montagne d’Ambre, a paradise for campers, chameleon lovers, frog lovers and snake freaks. On this trip, everyone gets their money’s worth – only luxury falls somewhat by the wayside.

Dr. Alexandra Laube Camping with Chameleons – Madagascar’s north east coast
DGHT Regionalgruppe Saar-Pfalz
Zoo school of Zoo Neunkirchen
Zoostraße 25
66538 Neunkirchen
Admission is from 6.30 p.m., lecture begins at 7 p.m.

Picture: Calumma guillaumeti in Marojejy, photographed by Dr. Alexandra Laube

Lecture in Frankfurt about Madagascar

Lecture in Frankfurt about Madagascar

Live lectures

The spokeswoman of the AG Chamäleons will be giving a visually stunning talk about not only, but also a great many chameleons on 21 October 2022 in Frankfurt am Main. Madagascar, located in the Indian Ocean a good 400 km east of mainland Africa, is known for its extremely high biodiversity. But the wild west of Madagascar is one thing above all: hot and dry. Nothing can really survive there – can it? The end of the rainy season is the best time to go herping in Madagascar: time to go where the pepper grows and see what the dry wild west is all about. A herpetological adventure!

The journey leads from the capital Antananarivo through the highlands to Ankarafantsika National Park, which, contrary to popular belief, has more to offer than just birds. Then it continues to the west coast town of Mahajanga on the Bay of Bombetoka. The opposite headland of Katsepy revealed one of its greatest secrets only two years ago with a chameleon thought to be extinct. Morondava, further south by the sea, is home to the famous Baobab Avenue. Not far from there is the Kirindy forest, where probably no animal is quite normal: a cathameral predator with clitoris bones, the world’s smallest mouse maki, a kangaroo rat, the shortest-lived chameleon on earth and a turtle called Kapidolo are just some of Kirindy’s strange inhabitants. From there, the journey continues off-road in the sand to the south, past the baobab forests of Andavadoaka to the beaches of Ifaty. In two spiny forests north and south of Toliara, day geckos, even more turtles and snakes can be found.

Dr Alexandra Laube The Wild West of Madagascar
DGHT City Group Frankfurt am Main
Zoo School of Frankfurt Zoo
Bernhard-Grzimek-Allee 1
60316 Frankfurt am Main
Admission is from 6.30 p.m., lecture begins at 7 p.m.

Photo: Furcifer voeltzkowi in Katsepy, photographed by Dr Alexandra Laube

Species diversification in chameleons

Species diversification in chameleons

Science

From earlier studies, we know that the first chameleons evolved in the late Cretaceous, about 90 million years ago, on mainland of Africa. Around the border between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, about 65 million years ago, different species began to evolve. It is still unclear today which factors contributed to the diversity of species. Two researchers from Swansea University in Wales have now used various computational models of phylogenetics to investigate what might have influenced diversification (the splitting of chameleons into many different species).

First, they studied the diversification of chameleon species in Madagascar. In terms of evolutionary history, there are two points in time when chameleons apparently spread across the sea from mainland Africa to Madagascar. One is about 65 million years in the past, the other 45 million years. You could now think that the climatically extremely different habitats in Madagascar could have driven the evolution of the species very quickly after the spread across the sea. To the surprise of the researchers, however, no evidence of this was found. The species richness of chameleons on Madagascar must therefore come from the fact that chameleons spread there very early and thus simply had much more time to develop into different species than elsewhere.

Furthermore, the researchers investigated whether switching between two ecomorphs – from ground-dwelling stub-tailed chameleons to tree-dwelling chameleons with longer tails – had an impact on species diversity. Rather surprisingly, this did not seem to be the case. The evolution to tree-dwellers with longer tails occurred relatively early on one or two occasions. No evidence could be found that different ecomorphs accelerated diversification. Instead, speciation rates were found to slow down progressively over the last 60 million years. Only a very early dispersal event of the genus Bradypodion in South Africa around 10 million years ago was accompanied by a two- to fourfold diversification rate.

As a third focus of the study, the researchers examined the genus Bradypodion. During the climate change in the Miocene around 10 million years ago, South Africa changed a lot. Forests disappeared, leaving behind isolated forest habitats and, in between, savannahs, some of which are now so-called hot spots of biodiversity. Two of them, the Cape Floristic Region at the southwestern tip of South Africa and Maputuland-Pondoland-Albany on the east coast of South Africa, are home to a particularly large number of Bradypodion species. Each species is limited to a geographically very clearly defined area. The researchers, therefore, suspect that Bradypodion species have actually evolved faster under the influence of habitat change. It should be noted that the diversification rate of the genus Bradypodion is probably rather underestimated, as there are still many hidden species to be assumed.

Diversification dynamics of chameleons (Chamaeleonidae)
Stephen Giles, Kevin Arbuckle
Journal of Zoology, 2022
DOI: 10.1111/jzo.13019

For those on short notice: Live stream about Madagascar

For those on short notice: Live stream about Madagascar

Live Stream Live lectures Webinars

For those who make up their minds at short notice, there is a spontaneous chance to attend a particularly beautiful lecture tomorrow, Saturday, 08 October 2022. Together with Jutta Dwinger, AG member Lars Dwinger will give a lecture full of pictures, which will be broadcast online via live stream. This is an opportunity for all those who prefer to watch lectures from the comfort of their couch or for whom the journey to Lower Saxony is simply too far. Language will be German.

This year, the two Dwingers travelled to the north of Madagascar, which is known for its extreme biodiversity. The journey begins in the Marojejy National Park, which stretches across the gorges and steep slopes of the mountain range of the same name. There you can see exceptionally rarely photographed chameleons, but also a great variety of frogs, snakes and geckos. Afterwards, the journey led via the east coast towns of Sambava and Vohémar to the dry forest of Daraina. The next stop was the world-famous Tsingys in Ankarana National Park. Even in these two dry forests, there is a lot of small and big life. The final stop was camping in the middle of a chameleon paradise: The Amber Mountain in the far north of Madagascar. Between tiny earth chameleons that just fit on the tip of a finger and the gentle giants of the rainforest, the two Hamburgers encounter many fascinating creatures on this trip.

Lars und Jutta Dwinger Foray through four national parks in northern Madagascar
Arbeitskreis Wirbellose in Binnengewässern e.V.
Live-Stream Watch the video
Hotel & Restaurant Fricke
Hämelerwald
Niedersachsenstraße 8
31275 Lehrte
Lecture starts at 5 pm 17 Uhr

Picture: Brookesia vadoni in Marojejy, photographed by Jutta Dwinger

Lecture in Neumünster about Madagascar

Lecture in Neumünster about Madagascar

Live lectures

Together with Jutta Dwinger, AG member Lars Dwinger will be giving a presentation full of pictures in Schleswig-Holstein on Friday, 21 October 2022. This year, the two travelled to the north of Madagascar, which is known for its extreme biodiversity.

The journey begins in the Marojejy National Park, which stretches across the gorges and steep slopes of the mountain range of the same name. There you can see extremely rarely photographed chameleons, but also a great variety of frogs, snakes and geckos. Afterwards, the journey led via the east coast towns of Sambava and Vohémar to the dry forest of Daraina. The next stop was the world-famous Tsingys in Ankarana National Park. Even in these two dry forests, there is a lot of small and big life. The final stop was camping in the middle of a chameleon paradise: The Montagne d’Ambre in the far north of Madagascar. Between tiny earth chameleons that just fit on the tip of a finger and the gentle giants of the rainforest, the two Hamburgers encounter many fascinating creatures on this trip.

Lars und Jutta Dwinger  Foray through four national parks in the north of Madagascar
DGHT Stadtgruppe Neumünster
Gaststätte “Schafstall”
May-Eyth-Str. 14
24537 Neumünster
Lecture starts at 8 pm

Picture: Brookesia betschi in Marojejy, photographed by Jutta Dwinger

Factors in the geographical dispersal of chameleons

Factors in the geographical dispersal of chameleons

Science

For a long time, people have been trying to find out how and why chameleons have spread across the African continent, to islands and as far as Europe and Asia. French scientists, in collaboration with international colleagues, have now used phylogenetics and various computational models to investigate how the factors of body size, coastal habitat and extreme lifestyles may have affected the distribution of different chameleon species. The study examined 181 species divided into nine main biogeographical regions: North Africa and Arabia, Central Africa, Southeast Africa, Southwest Africa, India, Socotra, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles.

Chameleon species that occurred more than 10 km from the sea historically spread significantly less than the 74 coastal chameleon species. A similar phenomenon is known from skinks and crocodiles. Dispersal probably took place mainly along the coasts, mostly on the same continent and only rarely across the water to other continents or islands.

The size of the different chameleons also seems to have influenced their dispersal throughout history: Large chameleons spread further and more frequently than small chameleons. This could be related to the fact that larger chameleons have a lower metabolic rate – so they need less energy overall relative to smaller competitors. In addition, larger chameleons lay clutches with significantly more eggs, which simply gives them an advantage in numbers.

A somewhat unexpected result came from the study of different life cycles. One would initially assume that short life cycles are associated with faster dispersal. In fact, the calculations showed that especially chameleon species with extreme life cycles spread further. Thus, those that reproduced particularly slowly or particularly quickly were historically more successful among chameleons than the species “in the middle”. In this regard, the authors consider whether particularly slow life cycles with late sexual maturity and long gestation might be more successful on the same continent, while faster reproductive strategies with large clutches are more favourable for dispersal across the sea to islands and other continents. In line with this, Furcifer polleni and Furcifer cephalolepis in Comoros and Chamaeleo zeylanicus in India, all three examples of aquatic dispersal, have a very fast life cycle.

The 34 chameleon species with the combination of living close to the coast, large size and extreme life cycle had a 98% higher dispersal rate than species without these characteristics.  All in all, this is certainly a very theoretical study, but it nevertheless provides exciting insights into the historical distribution and dispersal of chameleons.

Chameleon biogeographic dispersal is associated with extreme life history strategies
Sarah-Sophie Weil, Laurie Gallien, Sébastien Lavergne, Luca Börger, Gabriel W. Hassler, Michaël P.J. Nicolaï & William L. Allen
Ecography
DOI: 10.1111/ecog.06323