chameleon casque

[tryme]

Does a veiled chams' casque have any relevance to "dominance" I don't believe it does but just want to know for sure as my mate keeps saying he knows alot about lizards so yeah please prove me right lol

 

[No Limit]

color is the main dominance thing, not the crest on his head...

 

[Cainschams]

Size and Attitude I would think to be the main dominance features.

 

[Jordan]

I suppose that the casque in theory would play a role. A natural defensive position for a chameleon is slightly turned sideways with their body flattened. Even if two chameleons where some what even in body size the one with the larger casque would at first glance look bigger, perhaps more intimidating making the other one back down.

Realistically I think previous experiences with fights or altercations along with over all attitude decide dominance. A large chameleon that sustained a decent injury in a previous fight might not be as quick to want to fight against a smaller, fiesty chameleon whose attitude has kept him/her from ever having to really fight.

 

[tryme]

What I don't understand is how a cham can be dominant if these animals don't live in a pack or high rachy, if you see what I mean?

 

[Eric Adrignola]

They do live in a heirachy. That's what te colors and displays are for - the big males will have the biggest, highest best territory, the less dominant males will stay lower down.

They have a lot of "social" interaction - but it's not close up - most of their communication is from a distance. That's why the colors, display etc matter. Chameleons with a bigger casque might be simply more attractive to the females. Usually, useless, sexually dimorphic(males are different than females) structures like that have more to do with sexual selection than anything else (cause if it was useful, females would have it too).