DETECTING THE VEILED CHAMELEON (CHAMAELEO CALYPTRATUS) ON MAUI: ENHANCING CONTROL OF AN INJURIOUS SPECIES…

[kinyonga]

Interesting info about plants eaten by veiled chameleon…interesting to see the size of the area they travel in a short time…
https://mauiinvasive.files.wordpres...on-for-hisc-research-and-technology-grant.pdf

 

[elizaann2]

Interesting. Gotta love those veiled chams!

 

[kinyonga]

I gotta love all chameleons! And a lot of other animals too!

 

[DaChameleon66]

That is interesting. It is against the law to own veiled chameleons in the islands but not jackson's. Both of them are invasive species that prey on Hawaii's native endemic snails.

 

[kinyonga]

That is interesting. It is against the law to own veiled chameleons in the islands but not jackson's. Both of them are invasive species that prey on Hawaii's native endemic snails.

True…it’s illegal to own veiled there.
Are the snails endangered or a pest in their own right…or what?
Do the veileds eat snails? I thought native birds being eaten was more of a concern with veileds.

 

[DaChameleon66]

True…it’s illegal to own veiled there.
Are the snails endangered or a pest in their own right…or what?
Do the veileds eat snails? I thought native birds being eaten was more of a concern with veileds.

The snails are native to Hawaii and found nowhere else in the world. I think mostly the Jackson's eat the snails. https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Res...ils are endemic,threats to kāhuli tree snails.

 

[Multivitamins]

True…it’s illegal to own veiled there.
Are the snails endangered or a pest in their own right…or what?
Do the veileds eat snails? I thought native birds being eaten was more of a concern with veileds.

When I was on Oahu the concern was mostly about larvae and snail population being decimated by invasive Jackson's.

I am unaware of veiled on Oahu but would not count it out

 

[kinyonga]

Looks like it isn’t only the chameleons that are causing the decline in the snail population but also the nonnative plants available that they are ingesting as well…”These results suggest that native snails persisting in nonnative host plants experience sublethal stress, reflected in a dramatic reduction in reproductive output.”…
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03949370.2016.1143406

 

[Multivitamins]

Looks like it isn’t only the chameleons that are causing the decline in the snail population but also the nonnative plants available that they are ingesting as well…”These results suggest that native snails persisting in nonnative host plants experience sublethal stress, reflected in a dramatic reduction in reproductive output.”…
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03949370.2016.1143406

It's easy to see how any invasive plant or animal could quickly destroy the ecosystem as isolated as the Hawaiian islands

I had my mind blown when I was on Tantalus and saw how rampant the aroids were growing

 

[DaChameleon66]

Sadly Hawaii has been called "the extinction capital of the world" due to many native species of plants and animals going extinct from invasive plants and animals, and also from humans as well. You can still find some native endemic plants and animals on some of the hiking tails that are at higher elevations, and there are many conservation efforts that are trying to save the native species.