Male Territorial communi

[Brodybreaux25]

Credit: Petr Necas
MALES TERRITORIALITY

Chameleon control their territories over great distances of tenths meters. They see their rivals and signal with the brightest colors and patters who is the boss of the tree. This does not induce any aggression, it is their natural state and communication.
In captivity, males that do not see any other males over distance tend to be extremely aggressive towards other males, females (they can hurt them or even kill during courtship) and strangely also towards people.
To provide visual contact over safe distance is a crucial part of naturalistic husbandry approach...



The Responsible Herpetoculture Project of BION Terrarium Center
www.bion.com
www.chameleons.info

 

[jamest0o0]

Bruce Galbraith(breeder) been talking about this for years and years

 

[Brodybreaux25]

I’ve become a bit of a Necas fanboy over these last few months.... He frequently covers “myths” about how chams behave in the wild vs captivity. Not everything he says translates into husbandry changes but it always sparks some good discussions...

 

[kinyonga]

I wonder if there's a distance at which that control of territory becomes aggressive...at what point does the male chameleon react to the other male chameleon in an aggressive way?

What about females seeing another female?
Females and males seeing each other?

 

[kinyonga]

Found this...again...
https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/29/5/1075/5036446

 

[Brodybreaux25]

I wonder if there's a distance at which that control of territory becomes aggressive...at what point does the male chameleon react to the other male chameleon in an aggressive way?

What about females seeing another female?
Females and males seeing each other?

I’m pretty sure I saw an article with a little of that mentioned, let me see if I can find it...

 

[kinyonga]

It's always good to have more to read!

 

[kinyonga]

This is interesting...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trippy-chameleons-intimidate-rivals-with-quick-color-change/

 

[Brodybreaux25]

@kinyonga

Panther Chameleons build so dense populations in Nosy Be, that you can even find two males in same bush just 1,5m away if each other. No aggression



www.chameleons.info

 

[kinyonga]

@Brodybreaux25 ...that's interesting. I've seen it happen with other reptiles/chameleons too.

 

[Tihshho]

Does this mean we have to provide male & male confrontation chances? Even if all of it is is that they are able to see one another from across the room?

 

[Brodybreaux25]

I don't think we should take it that far just based on this. If anything all this means, at most, is that captive chams catching glimpses of each other here and there isn't the huge sin a lot of keepers make it out to be.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Don’t know if I posted this already or not...

The population density of Panther Chameleons o Nosy Be is locally immense - several specimens can occupy same tree



www.chameleons.info

 

[PetNcs]

Bruce Galbraith(breeder) been talking about this for years and years

I am happy I can provide more info and moee wild observations as well as results of caltice experiments...