Tag Archives: Wildlife
Chameleon-On-Gouda
Posted on June 09, 2009 by Barak in Africa | No Comments
Sounds like some kind of post-modern art… This was the hunk of Gouda we lugged up Mt. Kenya and this is the chameleon that graced our table the first morning. Chameleons are fascinating and hold a certain nostalgia from my childhood days in West Africa. When going to Daystar University in Kenya, I use to keep one in my mosquito net and feed it moths at night. There are actually about 160 species of chameleon. All of them have eyes that rotate independently, prehensile tails, and tongues that extend out 1 1/2 times their body length. They change colors through specialized skin cells called chromatophores, and more than just camouflage, color reflects emotion and temperature. There is an old tribal story in Sierra Leone of how a race was held by all the jungle animals to determine who would rule them. The chameleon being wise, jumped on the cheetah’s tail. When the cheetah reached the throne and turned to sit down, the chameleon jumped off and thus became the King of the Jungle.
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