Scientists find Madagascar chameleon last seen 100 years ago
Wonder how this will go. I’m going to take a guess that they will be considered endangered and illegal to remove from their homeland. Granted, I’m sure they will somehow make their way to someone rich enough to smuggle.
Considering their extremely short life span I can’t see them becoming big in the pet trade.
“Researchers believe that both reptiles only live during the rainy season — hatching from eggs, growing rapidly, sparring with rivals, mating and then dying during a few short months.”
It’s nice to know that “lost” species are finding new places to populate though.
I must have misread that part of the article. Wonder how a reptile would have such a short lifespan. I would think they would be more on par with other chameleons with five years or so.
But we don’t entirely know how long they would live in captivity, maybe they could live a few years and there’s a certain factor in the wild that doesn’t allow them to live very long. Also maybe some people will try captive breeding and keep track of which eggs are hatched by which chameleons and then keeping the eggs where the parents lived the longest and possibly keep incrementally increasing the lifespan of these species.
I found a video of them on youtube, they’re neat looking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exen2NIb_bw
Wow. Very interesting how the female is the more visually expressive of the two. Absolute stunner. The male is almost a blend of different chameleon species with their looks.
I have been involved in the saltwater aquarium trade. Some folks insist on putting an octopus in their tank (the critters ARE ultra-cool). But, most have a lifespan of about twelve months. And, since they are ALL wild caught, they might only have months of life remaining… Sad, I know.
The point of the above is that there are people out there who don’t consider what is best for nature… And we will have to do battle w them constantly. Let’s hope they don’t get their hands on these chameleons!