Arnold Uy was birding the Abha area
recently and found a Mediterranean Chameleon Chamaeleo chamaeleon. They occur in Saudi Arabia, mainly
down the western side of the country where it can be found from sea level to
1850 metres above sea level in the mountains. The Mediterranean Chameleon, also
known as the Common Chameleon, is a diurnal species that usually varies in
colour from green to dull brown, tan or grey. It has a remarkable ability to
change colour which is done for camouflage, to signal to other chameleons and
to regulate its temperature. Whatever its background colour, the Mediterranean
chameleon generally has two light stripes along each side of its body, with the
stripes often being broken into a series of dashes or spots. They are an
arboreal species that have strong, grasping feet with four toes, two on
each side for grasping branches and a
prehensile tail, used to maintain balance and stability, making it well adapted to living in bushes
and trees. It uses its long, sticky tongue to capture passing prey, that when
extended, can be twice the length of the body. They have very sharp eyesight
and each eyeball is able to move independently of the other and a light crest
of scales along its throat, and a crest of small, serrated scales along its
back and can measure up to 20 - 40 cm long. They are active during the day
and its diet consists mainly of arthropods including grasshoppers, flies, bees,
wasps, and ants. Like other chameleons, the Mediterranean Chameleon is
slow-moving, often with a slight swaying motion to avoid detection by predators, and is a ‘sit-and-wait’ predator that captures
prey with its long, sticky tongue when prey comes within reach. Their range is
the broadest of all chameleon species, extending from northern Africa, Arabia
to southwest Asia and southern Europe. In North Africa and the
Middle East it occurs in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Israel,
Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria Iraq and Iran. They are found in a variety of habitats
including open pine woodland, shrubland, plantations, gardens and orchards and
spends the majority of its time in trees or bushes, preferring dense cover for
camouflage. However, this habit changes during the mating season when males
move to the ground to find a mate and females descend to a lower level of
vegetation.
