Sexual dimorphism in Furcifer pardalis alias Sexing The Panther

Brodybreaux25

Chameleon Enthusiast
Credit: Petr Necas

Sexual dimorphism in Furcifer pardalis alias
Sexing The Panther

In the Panther Chameleons, the sexes differ in many features from each other. They show the s.c. Primary sexual dimorphism, which is expressed through the presence of sexual glands (testes with ductus deferens in males and ovaries with oviducts in females) and copulatory organs (hemipenes in males, hemiclitoris in females).
The problem for sexing animals is, that some of these organs (first group) are situated in the body cavity and some (the second group) in special pockets at the base if the tail, none of them are invisible from outside.
There is a technique how to evert the hemipenis, but in young animals and in animals which are dehydrated, old or out of breeding season, it does not work reliably, plus, it might be painful for the animal and is definitely rather stressful, especially if done by an inexperienced owner, therefore not recommended.
Fortunately, there are several Secondary sexual characteristics, that allow us to define the sex rather reliably, especially in adult animals:
CRANIAL CRESTS The male possess significantly swollen rostral creats that meet anove the snout to form a concave rostral protuberance - a false horn, while the females possess a faint ridge only.

SIZE The males are much bigger than the females, they can reach up to 20in / 11in resp, usually stay smaller.

BODY PROPORTIONS The females are built more compact with smaller heads and les rugous scales

TAIL BASE Due to the presence of male copulatory organs, hemipenes, the tail base behind cloacal is thicker/swollen in males

GULAR CREST The conical scales on the gular crest are relatively much bigger in males

COLORATION The excited males show a wide variety of colors from red through green, blue, pink, yellow, to white, while females are colored usually in tones of brown, red and pink.

For reliable sex determination, the size and colors and male swollen canthi rostrales horns are a good guidance in all ages starting 3rd month of age.

Table
The left column relates always to male, the right to females

It shows the differences(top down) in:
General habitus
Head form
Tail base
Gular crest
4ED85C0C-54FA-4637-992C-B5CF15B82152.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Whatever you do dont say his name 3x or he appears and speaks broken English to you. Trust me on this one....

My English is not broken, it has not developed yet...
And, as itnis nit my motheŕs tongue, I really do not understand what you mean by your comment, anyway, hard to perceive it positively
 
My English is not broken, it has not developed yet...
And, as itnis nit my motheŕs tongue, I really do not understand what you mean by your comment, anyway, hard to perceive it positively
Chanting a name multiple times conjures up a spirit. In the American mythos this often is a game that disbelieving teens play in a dark room at a sleep over and they unwittingly bring a movie’s worth of trouble onto the town. If I were you I would encourage this rumor with the addition that lives can be saved only by an offering of wine and cheese on the conjuring spot. It could work out for you! :)

And, no, your English is not broken. It is what we like to refer to as “English with artistic license”.
 
Credit: Petr Necas
Petr Necas
I’m fluent in Petr-ese by now.


My English is not broken, it has not developed yet...
And, as itnis nit my motheŕs tongue, I really do not understand what you mean by your comment, anyway, hard to perceive it positively



Whatever you do dont say his name 3x or he appears and speaks broken English to you. Trust me on this one....

Confirmed, it works.
 
Chanting a name multiple times conjures up a spirit. In the American mythos this often is a game that disbelieving teens play in a dark room at a sleep over and they unwittingly bring a movie’s worth of trouble onto the town. If I were you I would encourage this rumor with the addition that lives can be saved only by an offering of wine and cheese on the conjuring spot. It could work out for you! :)

And, no, your English is not broken. It is what we like to refer to as “English with artistic license”.
Sounds much better :cool:
 
Back
Top Bottom