Kinyongia carpenteri pictures

Motherlode Chameleon

Chameleon Enthusiast
This is one neat species I have seen drawings of that I have never actually seen an actual photo of one. Has anyone got a photo that they can post.

They are native to a mountain range in Republic of Congo and Uganda.
 
Thanks Chris that is an amazing looking species. Similar to a vield X xenorhinum. Has anyone ever heard of these being exported.

Neat casque, nose, good color, and a long tail.
 
The photos look like the specimens were in captivity. I could be wrong though.

All those photos were taken in the wild. The two from Johan Marais were taken in 2005 in the Musandama forest (in the northern part of the Ruwenzori Mountains) of Uganda and the one from Eli Greenbaum was taken in 2008 on the Democratic Republic of Congo side of the Ruwenzori Mountains.

I heard a couple Kinyongia carpenteri made it to Europe a number of years ago but did very poorly. They are very rare and live in very remote, hard to access areas. They probably won't make it into captivity any time soon and unless larger populations are found, probably shouldn't be commercially exported.

Chris
 
Without appropriate conservation or large sustainable numbers in the wild we should not see them in captivity anytime soon. Really cool though you found pictures of them, with their colors, casque,tail and nose they are an amazing species.
 
There are some species out there that are extremely neat. However, they are very scarce, their wild habitat or their range is extremely limited and they are not being conserved in the wild. Meaning until conservation measures are done viewing should only be done by pictures, video, or if the area is politically stable enough through ecotourism. As well, even if conservation measures are being applied you should probably only see these chameleons exported with permits in extremely small numbers, similar to South African Dwarf chameleons.
 

The pictures of Kinyongia carpenteri look as though this species has colors similar to Kinyongia uthmoelleri. Which makes this species more colorful for an African species. As well they both have got tails that seem exceedingly longer than most other chameleon tails. Which could possible be an adaptation to living high in the canopy of tree's (at least that is my theory for most long tailed species).
 
In the field guide to the reptiles of Africa by Sprawls, it says that Carpenteri are found high in the canopy of tall trees, Ive also read the same thing about Uthmoelleri. I have 2 male uthies and they use their tails more then any of my other chameleons.
 
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