The Natal Midlands dwarf chameleon (Bradypodion thamnobates ) is a chameleon native to woodland habitat in the inland Midlands area of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Its specific name thamnobates means "bush-walker".
In addition to the common name Natal Midlands dwarf chameleon, it is also known under the longer common name of KwaZulu-Natal Midlands dwarf chameleon.
An insectivore is a carnivorous plant or animal that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of e...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some anima...
Ambush predators are carnivorous animals that capture or trap prey by stealth, luring, or by (typically instinctive) strategies utilizing an elemen...
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starts withIts length is 7.6 centimetres (3.0 in), relatively small for its genus, and it has bulbous scales of varying colors scattered around the body. The head crest is yellow, with white skin on its throat. Males have a short orange stripe around the middle of their bodies and red-spotted eyelids, whereas females are brown with smaller helmet-like protrusions. They otherwise have considerable variation in their colouration.
The range of the Midlands and Gilboa Forest populations and that of the Drakensberg dwarf chameleon (B. dracomontanum ) require delimitation, as they appear to touch in eastern Lesotho and adjacent South Africa. The Drakensberg species is not closely related to the KwaZulu-Natal group, however, and no significant gene flow between them seems to occur.
The Natal Midlands dwarf chameleon is classified as an Endangered species by the IUCN. It is used in local folk medicine.
