A quest to find these masters of disguise, the little Cape dwarf chameleons turned out to be more challenging than anticipated. A friend tipped me off to a location out in the country – bearing in mind that they are rarely seen, a threatened species – I was excited to see if I could locate any. Their camouflage makes them hard to spot and sure enough they were well hidden. Eventually after a concerted effort peering intently – there they were, blending in magnificently with the foliage. The species is restricted to the Western Cape area and inhabits a range of different habitats and vegetation types, from fynbos and renosterveld, to indigenous Afrotemperate forests and wetlands.
WPC: Quest
Nature on the Edge 
What a gorgeous creature! Great photos, too! 🙂
Yes they’re flambouyant little creatures …. thanks Snow Melt.
You’ve captured them beautifully!
Thank you Belinda.
It is sad how seldom we see chameleons now. I remember them in the garden as a child. Now I rarely see them in very large gardens.
It is very sad; another missing link in the fragile biodiversity chain. Pesticides and domestic cats are the two big threats to these precious creatures.
Great spotting, I can imagine it must have been challenging. We have katydids that look like green leaves and even when they are ‘singing,’ I still can’t see them!
Thanks Eliza. Those leaflike katydids are masters of disguise; glad that they can outwit detection.
They are very good at it!
You must have been out of your skin with excitement when you found them, Liz!
Yes, chuffed to say the least! These are rare, who knows when or if there are more to be spotted?!
Fantastic head shot.
wow… beautiful capture…..
Thanks Sudhir!
Wow!! The first photo looks alive, very good work.
Thanks for this compliment Lena, the image being ‘alive’ makes me happy 🙂
Super! I especially love the first photo
Thanks Rajiv!
A cute little beastie Liz and what a range of colours it has!
Thanks Gilly. Aren’t they colourful, amazing that they can tune distances between nanoscale crystals in their skin that reflect light, creating a spectrum of colours. Nature rocks!
Great shots, love the detail.
Thanks Sue, they’re amazing little creatures 🙂
What a fabulous little lizard and what a brilliant spot!
Very pleased to find them, but quite worrying that there are so few around.
I haven’t seen ANY chameleons for years – we used to have several in our garden and they were fairly commonly seen during my childhood. I am so pleased you found these very special ones.
Isn’t it sad! Man has been so careless in the use of pesticides. Then there are the burgeoning numbers of domestic cats. Both reasons for the severe decline in the chameleon species. It’s so ironic when the chameleons would have kept the pests in check.
I looove that first shot. Absolutely gorgeous. I keep hoping to find one in my garden on the FH mountainside but they seem to elude us 😦
What great colors and patterns this animal has. Did you know that the word chameleon means ‘lion on the ground’?
I didn’t know, and now i picture it in a new light with a very different image of a hunting ‘carnivore’ 🙂
The Greek root in the first part of the word is the same as in chamomile, which means ‘apple on the ground’.