A favourite game (read trick) of myself and tracker Ray Mabilane to play with guests is chameleon spotting. I, for one, have never won, nor can I remember a guest who has. An age-old trick of the trackers is to amaze guests when they spot the incredibly well-camouflaged flap-necked chameleons. Nestled amongst the branches of a tree, the trackers would see a slight colour and reflection difference, revealing one of these tiny reptiles.

To show guests an animal that can change colour, has eyes that move independently, walks in a slow, unsure, jerky motion, and remains almost impossible to see even when pointed out in the spotlight at night causes amazement each time. Add in the Old African tale of how, when a chameleon dies, its bones turn into many young chameleons. Basically, it has risen from the dead in the form of many more, thereby making chameleons immortal. Incredible!

Never heard of a chameleon?

Chameleons are small reptiles that thrive in trees. They can climb and have a prehensile tail as long as their body to help balance, which is used as an extra leg. Being slow-moving animals, they need to blend in when in the trees and on the ground to avoid being seen by predators. But herein lies the root of a lot of confusion. Why, and how do they change colour?

A rare sight! A flapped-necked chameleon in broad daylight. As it was crossing the road, we luckily spotted it, and in true chameleon form, it decided to freeze on the spot. Allow the guest and myself an incredible opportunity to photograph and discuss.

Firstly: How do chameleons change colour?

A chameleon’s ability to change colour may seem like magic, but like all things, those mysteries can be explained (at least somewhat). Simply put, they control their colour by controlling how the pigments of their skin cells are distributed.

Chameleons have different layers of skin, each with specialised chromatophores (colour cells). Each chromatophore in each layer contains different pigments. Using nerve impulses and hormones, the chameleon controls how the pigments are distributed with the chromatophores, changing the colour of the individual cell.

Because this process involves hormones, impulses, and multiple layers, it is rather slow. Out the window go ideas of rapid colour changes to match their background.

An angry flapped-necked chameleon, perhaps feeling agitated as it crosses the exposed road!

Secondly: Do chameleons change colour for camouflage?

No, this is a myth. A chameleon’s default colour (natural hues of green and brown) is the closest they get to camouflage. Just as we use language, birds use song and glow-worms use light to communicate, chameleons use colour. A chameleon changing colour does it primarily to show mood and intention, not to blend into its environment.

The lighter the chameleon, the more tranquil and relaxed its mood; the darker or more intense, the more unsettled or angry the individual. This is important, especially if males want to signal their approachability or intentions to females. On top of this, chameleons are cold-blooded reptiles whose ability to change colour helps in the regulation of temperature, turning darker or lighter to either absorb or reflect heat respectively.

What’s the story with the independently moving eyes?

Watch a chameleon for any amount of time, and you quickly notice that their eyes are ‘uncoupled’. They swivel around completely independently, one eye seeing a different picture from the other (dizzying!). Covering 360 degrees of vision without turning its head, allows the chameleon to keep an eye out for danger and for prey (perhaps independently!) and move imperceptibly slowly forward.

The chameleon’s brain prevents it from feeling motion sickness or lightheadedness by switching between each eye every second or so. When focused in on prey, the brain alerts one eye to synchronise with the other on the target (coupling). With both eyes facing forwards, locked on, it gives superb binocular vision with which it can very accurately judge distance, crucial for its missile-like tongue being shot out to catch prey.

Although incredibly cryptic, these replies are nothing short of a miracle of evolution! On your next night drive back to camp, keep an eye out for that shiny leaf in the tree you’re driving past, or better yet, challenge your tracker to find you one!

PS: In case you were wondering about the baby chameleons crawling out of the bones of a dead adult?

It is a lot simpler than one would think. Chameleons lay eggs in a hole that the mother has dug. Laying eggs in layers is a stressful and exhausting process, taking up to 24 hours. On the odd occasion, the mother may not survive. The eggs take 9-12 months to hatch, by which time all that remains of the mother is her skeleton, assuming nothing has eaten her. After hatching, the fully developed baby chameleons dig themselves out of the burrow and through the mother’s skeleton, appearing as though the bones have transformed into baby chameleons.