Appearance
They are sometimes called three-horned chameleons because males possess three brown horns: one on the nose and one above each superior orbital ridge above the eyes , somewhat reminiscent of the ceratopsid dinosaur genus ''Triceratops''. The females generally have no horns, or traces of the rostral horn . The coloring is usually bright green, with some individual animals having traces of blue and yellow, but like all chameleons, they change color quickly depending on mood, health, and temperature.These are small to medium-sized chameleons. Adult males reach up to 38 cm and females up to 25 cm , but more typical lengths are 15 to 25 cm . They have a saw-tooth shaped dorsal ridge and no gullar crest. They attain sexual maturity after five months. The lifespan is variable, with males generally living longer than females.
Distribution
Jackson's chameleons are native to woodlands and forests at altitudes of 1,600 to 2,440 m in south-central Kenya and northern Tanzania. In these areas, the rainfall is seasonal but exceeds 127 cm per year, day temperatures are typically 16–27 °C and night temperatures are typically 4–18 °C . In Tanzania, it is only known from Mount Meru in the Arusha Region, which is the home of the relatively small endemic subspecies ''T. j. merumontanus''. Jackson's chameleon is more widespread in Kenya, where it is even found in wooded areas of some Nairobi suburbs. The subspecies ''T. j. xantholophus'' was introduced to Hawaii in 1972 and has since established populations on all main islands and became invasive species there. This subspecies has also been introduced to Florida. In Hawaii, they are mainly found at altitudes of 100 to 1,000 m in wet, shady places. Historically this population was the primary source of Jackson's chameleons for the exotic pet trade in the United States, but exports from Hawaii are now illegal. This has been done to prevent opportunists from willfully establishing further feral animal populations to capture and sell them.
Behavior
They are less territorial than most species of chameleons. Males will generally assert dominance over each other through color displays and posturing in an attempt to secure mating rights, but usually not to the point of physical fights. Most chameleons are oviparous, but Jackson's chameleon gives birth to live offspring; eight to thirty live young are born after a five- to six-month gestation. The subspecies ''T. j. merumontanus'' gives birth to five to ten live young.Food
Jackson's chameleons live primarily on a diet of small insects. It prey on insects, centipedes, isopods, millipedes, spiders, lizards, small birds, and snails in its native habitat.There is a threat of devastating impact of introduced invasive Jackson's chameleons to native ecosystems in Hawaii. There were found mainly insect in their stomachs: planthoppers ''Oliarus'', grasshoppers ''Banza'', casebearing caterpillars ''Hyposmocoma'', beetles ''Oodemas'', dragonflies ''Pantala'' and others. Holland et al. proved that they also prey on snails in Hawaii. Their prey include land snails ''Achatinella'', ''Auriculella'', ''Lamellidea'', ''Philonesia'', ''Oxychilus alliarius''. They are swallowing whole snails . Jackson's chameleons introduced to Hawaii are substantial threat to native biodiversity of invertebrates and serious threat especially to endemic species, such as critically endangered O'ahu tree snails .
Cultural
The Fallout series of games includes a mutated version of Jackson's Chameleon called a "".Sting Chameleon, a boss from the video game Mega Man X, is modeled after Jackson's Chameleon.
"Liz" Ms. Frizzle's pet in The Magic School Bus is based on Jackson's Chameleon.-->
References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
