Local form Ankify

Distribution of the local form:

Ankify is a small coastal village in northwest Madagascar, consisting of some hotels and huts directly at the beach. From the harbor (Doany), you can drive by boat to the islands Nosy Be, Nosy Komba, Nosy Faly, and others. Onshore, Ankify is separated from the next local form, Ambanja, by a range of hills and a kilometers broad mangrove belt.

Appearance of the local form:

The male panther chameleons occurring in Ankify have green-turquoise colors with mainly blue stripes and orange-colored eyes with a yellow corner of the mouth. We have found several times extraordinary huge males. They can be found along the gravel pathway at the coast everywhere in the secondary vegetation.

Weight table

Gewicht = weight in grams, Kopf-Rumpf-Länge = snout-vent-length in cm, Weibchen = females, Männchen = males

Since 2015, we have been measuring the weights of chameleons found by us on Madagascar, as far as the animals (and our scales) are involved. Up to now, there are only a few weights. In the long run, we hope to be able to read an average weight in relation to snout-vent-length (measured from the tip of the nose to the cloaca) for each species from as many measurements as possible. It is important to know that all weights were measured towards the end of the rainy season (= best food supply), so these should be maximum weights on Madagascar. Triangular symbols in females mean not pregnant, round symbols mean pregnant. In Furcifer pardalis, contrary to our original assumption, it has so far turned out that there are no serious differences in the ratio of SVL to weight between the individual local forms.

• Climate table
• More about climate
• UVB indices
• Soil temperatures

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	Mai	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Average temperature	28	28	28	28	25	23	23	24	26	28	29	28
Minimum temperature	23	22	23	22	18	16	15	16	19	21	22	23
Maximum temperature	33	33	33	33	33	31	31	32	33	35	35	34
Rain days	16	12	6	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	2	9

The given data were measured and compiled by us within several years with thermo- and hygrometers directly at the finding places of the animals. "Average temperature" means that the values of an entire month were calculated to an average value, e.g. all measured minimum values of February were calculated to an average minimum value for February. This means in plain language that individual peak values of a day can be significantly higher or lower than the average minimum and maximum values. It is therefore possible that although the average maximum is 29 degrees, it was 33°C or even 35°C warm on some days of the month.

Ankify is a coastal town directly on the Mozambique Channel. The climate is warm all year round, only in the rainy season from October to April it gets a little warmer during the day. The temperatures reach over 25°C all year round and in the rainy season they often exceed 30°C.

At night it is only a few degrees colder, but a little wind on the coast makes the temperatures always bearable. During the rainy season the climate is very humid and it rains every day, in the dry season the climate is only moderately dry with still regular rainfall, but it is shorter and smaller.

The UVB data were measured with a Solarmeter 6.5 in spring (early April) at the highest activity time of the chameleons. The maximum values to be achieved by the chameleon in the habitat were measured.

Unfortunately there are no ground temperatures available for Ankify yet.

Habitat:

The animals can be found everywhere close to the gravel path along the coast in secondary vegetation. Between huge old mango trees, Ravenalas, palms, and bushes you can find panther chameleons also along rudimentary fences made of branches. Additionally, Ankify has some smaller coffee and Ylang-Ylang plantations on some hills, where you can also meet a panther chameleon from time to time. Most coffee trees are overgrown with pepper vines to get two harvests in one plantation. For panther chameleons in Ankify, this is no problem, they take what they get there.

Hereinafter you can find some 360° pictures from Ankify. You can move inside these pictures via mouse click in all directions. If you click on the Theta logo, a new window with an enlarged view will open. You will also have the opportunity to look at the pictures in full-screen mode. Enjoy!