Labords chameleons ?

[WorldOfGonzo]

Firstly a quick hello to everyone newbie .

Watched Attenborough's latest doc last night..... Anyone heard of these???

Apparently they have the shortest life cycle of any land vertibrate in the world. From spending 9 months in the ground they hatch and have only 8 weeks to reach full maturity. Growing more than a centimeter a week with a vicious feeding regime. Once the rainy season in this area of madagascar is over they simply die off. ??? Males look awfully similar to Fishers ... anyone have any info? all i know is its part of the Furcifer Genus

 

[Chris Jury]

Typically they senese after more like 16 weeks, but yes, that is the life cycle of this animal. They're related to other members of the genus Furcifer (which looks to be a good, monophyletic clade), only very distantly related to Fisher's chameleons (Kinyongia spp.), they can be utterly beautiful, and they're totally unavailable, other than perhaps as the occasional illegal, smuggled individual. What else would you like to know?

 

[jpm995]

Is the dieoff due to rainy season ending, or would they live longer under rainy season conditions?