Details
Trioceros jacksonii
Jackson's chameleon is an East African chameleon famous for the male's three horns. It waits on cool montane branches for insect prey.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It inhabits Afrotropical forest and mountains. Humid highland forest, edges, and shrubby vegetation provide arboreal habitat.
Total length 20-38 cm; weight 90-150 g. Males bear three horns on the snout and brow, and the body is usually green. Grasping feet and a prehensile tail hold branches.
Diurnal and solitary, it walks with slow rocking steps. Independently moving eyes scan different directions at once.
A carnivore, it eats insects and small arthropods. The long tongue shoots out to catch prey away from the perch.
It gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs. Newborns cling to branches and hunt small prey independently.
It is listed as Least Concern. It has established introduced populations, so conservation concerns differ between native and introduced ranges.
