Temperature Threshold

[Jordan]

This sounds like you're saying Ch. calyptratus isn't thriving in Yemen, where it has existed for millions of years. Surely that's not what you meant, right?

Calyptratus could have been there that long but it is pretty unlikely. Around 150K-100K years ago there would have been a land bridge from Africa to Yemen because of low water levels. There would have most likely been one from Africa to Madagascar as well. Fossil evidence supports this land bridge being the path that humans used to leave Africa. The chameleon species migrating through the Sahara would be highly unlikely. If they where present before the formation and migrated over during the formation of the Sahara it raises the question of why they still resemble the orginal design so well. Isolation tends to be one of the biggest catalyst for evolution. With there present morphology it seems like they where probably once in an area of a more favorable enviroment that is now disappearing on them to an extent. I am sure there are many little colonies of veileds in the wild that are thriving but for the species as whole I think a better word to use is coping. An unintelligent arboreal species in a land of rocks and erosion of there once lush enviroment is probably not one that is going to survive for to much longer, at least in the Earth's time frame.

Eric if it makes you feel any better you where the first one to open my eyes to my females food intake and possible consequences. First clutch 50's, next 30's and been in the teens for the past couple. She is very happy. She lets me know everytime she tries to attack me.

 

[Kent67]

Calyptratus could have been there that long but it is pretty unlikely. Around 150K-100K years ago there would have been a land bridge from Africa to Yemen because of low water levels. There would have most likely been one from Africa to Madagascar as well. Fossil evidence supports this land bridge being the path that humans used to leave Africa. The chameleon species migrating through the Sahara would be highly unlikely. If they where present before the formation and migrated over during the formation of the Sahara it raises the question of why they still resemble the orginal design so well.

Ok, I'll change my wording slightly. "Chamaeleo calyptratus or the lineage of species it evolved from have been existing in Yemen for millions of years." Without going back to research exact time frames, I believe chamaeleonids were spreadout over Africa, as well as most of Europe and Asia some 40-50 million years ago. I am not at all familiar with the chameleonid fossil history, but I'd think that it's quite reasonable to believe Ch. calyptratus or it's ancestral species have been in Yemen for at least a couple million years. Also, what is the original chameleon design you're talking about and where did it begin?

With there present morphology it seems like they where probably once in an area of a more favorable enviroment that is now disappearing on them to an extent

Can you explain what you meant here? When I look at Ch. calyptratus I see an animal with an oversized fat supply, kinda like a camel. Yes, I know it's not exactly a fat supply, but that's what I see.

An unintelligent arboreal species in a land of rocks and erosion of there once lush enviroment is probably not one that is going to survive for to much longer, at least in the Earth's time frame.

The pics I've seen of calyptratus in the wild had big trees, bushes, and everything green. Yemen is known as the Green Arabia because the mountains trap moisture and it rains. The air is normally very arid, but it does rain frequently at different times of the year, more than anywhere else on that peninsula. If the climate continues to change and they can't adapt to it, well that's just a continuation of a long, long story.

It's a good point and one I hadn't fully considered that the earth has experienced many changes in climate over the ages. Animals that could not adapt to the changes are extinct. Those that adapted positively passed their genes along. The animals living in the mountains of Yemen are the ones whose ancestors did the best in whatever conditions they were forced to live in.

Reduced food intake that Kinyonga advocates?!?! Bah! I’ve been advocating that for over a decade! I stop posting on the forum for a few months and I stop getting credited! Just kidding.

Sorry man, I never noticed but I'm still fairly new to being back in the "chameleon community." If and when I next reference that topic I'll be sure to add your name in there too.