bberry820
Member
Hurricane Ian is less than 12 hours from hitting Florida's west coast as a category 4 storm. One of the possible impact zones is Lee county which is home to a good chunk of Florida's invasive chameleon population. This has me curious as to what the chameleons will do in order to survive. Madagascar and Yemen both get hit by Cyclones, the Indian Ocean version of a hurricane, from time to time. These animals must have a survival strategy in order to endure these conditions in the wild. Many people also hypothesize that hurricane Charley back in 2004 is partially responsible for the healthy population of veiled chameleons in Collier and Lee county. It could be fact or it could be urban legend but I have heard stories of the 04 storm destroying a chameleon breeding facility allowing some chameleons to escape. I have also heard that Charley could have dispersed chameleons owned by ranchers for the purpose of insect control on their farmland. There are three survival methods I can think of: tolerate, replenish, and replace. It could be one of those strategies, a combination of these strategies, or a strategy I haven't even considered.
Tolerate - It is pretty likely that in their 60 million years of being on this planet that chameleons have adapted and developed instincts that help them weather violent storms. Animals can sense natural disasters coming like they have some sort of 6th sense. They know disasters are coming just about as soon if not faster than our technology can. We can detect a hurricane before its even formed but have no idea where it will land until it arrives, in the last 12 hours the trajectory has changed by about 100 miles. It is very possible that when chameleons sense a hurricane coming they can prepare just like we would do. Chameleons don't need to stock up on gas, water, and toilet paper, but they do need to find a nice spot that will keep them safe. I would assume the safest spot would the thickest and lowest tree branch they can grip. With their super grip they only need to worry about their branch flying away as well as debris smacking them. I would assume only the largest and strongest individuals would have the best chance to survive and the old, weak, and young would have some casualties.
Repopulate -In cases where the storm just decimates a good chunk of land it is entirely possible to lose an entire area of chameleons. The bulk of the storm is only so wide and can only take out a small region of the overall area of chameleons. It is entirely possible that the chameleons in regions that aren't hit so hard by the storm will migrate into the area that was wiped out. I am not sure how long it would take for the entire area to be home to chameleons because I do not know the radius of the "kill zone" and I don't know how long it takes for chameleons to migrate.
Replenish -The final hypothesis I have thought of is if an area of chameleons dies out the eggs in the ground laid over the past 9 months will hatch and replenish the lost population. The chameleon reproductive cycle indicates to me that their populations are designed to survive mass die offs. Females lay eggs every 3-4 months and the eggs take 6-9 months to hatch. This means that when a female chameleon is laying eggs she has at least one other clutch still incubating in the ground, which further would indicate there are always 2-3 generations of chameleons in the ground at any given time in various stages of development. A whole living population can die off due to forrest fire, drought, lack of food, natural disaster, etc. and more chameleons will continue to hatch from the ground. The eggs also have a three month range of gestation time whereas a human's gestation time is pretty constantly 40 weeks (advancements in medicine has allowed us to birth babies much sooner in certain situations). This range of gestation tells us that the chameleon babies can prolong their hatching until certain climate conditions are met to sustain their needs. My only concern with this theory is that I don't know how the intense rain and flooding affect the eggs. It is possible that the water kills the eggs or the water might be a trigger to tell the more developed eggs that it is time to hatch soon.
What do you think will happen to the chameleons impacted by hurricane Ian?
side note: I didn't proof read this at all so if something doesn't make sense or an idea sounds incomplete please point it out and I will clarify what I mean
Tolerate - It is pretty likely that in their 60 million years of being on this planet that chameleons have adapted and developed instincts that help them weather violent storms. Animals can sense natural disasters coming like they have some sort of 6th sense. They know disasters are coming just about as soon if not faster than our technology can. We can detect a hurricane before its even formed but have no idea where it will land until it arrives, in the last 12 hours the trajectory has changed by about 100 miles. It is very possible that when chameleons sense a hurricane coming they can prepare just like we would do. Chameleons don't need to stock up on gas, water, and toilet paper, but they do need to find a nice spot that will keep them safe. I would assume the safest spot would the thickest and lowest tree branch they can grip. With their super grip they only need to worry about their branch flying away as well as debris smacking them. I would assume only the largest and strongest individuals would have the best chance to survive and the old, weak, and young would have some casualties.
Repopulate -In cases where the storm just decimates a good chunk of land it is entirely possible to lose an entire area of chameleons. The bulk of the storm is only so wide and can only take out a small region of the overall area of chameleons. It is entirely possible that the chameleons in regions that aren't hit so hard by the storm will migrate into the area that was wiped out. I am not sure how long it would take for the entire area to be home to chameleons because I do not know the radius of the "kill zone" and I don't know how long it takes for chameleons to migrate.
Replenish -The final hypothesis I have thought of is if an area of chameleons dies out the eggs in the ground laid over the past 9 months will hatch and replenish the lost population. The chameleon reproductive cycle indicates to me that their populations are designed to survive mass die offs. Females lay eggs every 3-4 months and the eggs take 6-9 months to hatch. This means that when a female chameleon is laying eggs she has at least one other clutch still incubating in the ground, which further would indicate there are always 2-3 generations of chameleons in the ground at any given time in various stages of development. A whole living population can die off due to forrest fire, drought, lack of food, natural disaster, etc. and more chameleons will continue to hatch from the ground. The eggs also have a three month range of gestation time whereas a human's gestation time is pretty constantly 40 weeks (advancements in medicine has allowed us to birth babies much sooner in certain situations). This range of gestation tells us that the chameleon babies can prolong their hatching until certain climate conditions are met to sustain their needs. My only concern with this theory is that I don't know how the intense rain and flooding affect the eggs. It is possible that the water kills the eggs or the water might be a trigger to tell the more developed eggs that it is time to hatch soon.
What do you think will happen to the chameleons impacted by hurricane Ian?
side note: I didn't proof read this at all so if something doesn't make sense or an idea sounds incomplete please point it out and I will clarify what I mean
