Flap-necked Chameleon-1

This picture needs to be paired with the next one - they are both of the same individual photographed only about 3 min apart. We saw this chameleon trying to cross the road near Waterberg NP in Namibia, so stopped to help it. I scooped it into my safari hat and carried it over to the brush on the side of the road and was amazed to see it completely change color before my eyes. One always hears that chameleons are famous for this, but you rarely actually see it in nature - and here it was happening before my eyes. Sure enough, it had little to do with the background but with its emotions - as it got agitated from being transported in my hat it turned from a light green to a dark almost black (see next photo).