Local form Mananara

Distribution of the local form Mananara:

On Madagascar’s east coast, directly across from Masoala national park at Antongil bay, there is Mananara Nord national park. It belongs to Analanjirofo region and is only accessible by boat from Maroantsetra. The national park consists of about 144 km² of rainforest and maritime area, including the three islands Nosy Antafana, Nosy Rangontsy, and Nosy Hely. Thus it is the second-largest UNESCO biosphere reserve of Madagascar. Due to its remote location, travelers hardly come here, and the difficult journey there plays its part, too. Sadly, up to date, it is almost impossible to travel to Mananara. There is no experienced local guide there and without one, you are not allowed to visit a national park. Mananara is separated from the neighbouring local form Maroansetra by several rivers.

Appearance of the local form:

The male panther chameleons here have a green ground colour with dark banding and orange accents on the head and belly. Older males show much more red on the head and limbs, and red banding on a green-yellow background. The local form Mananara thus strongly resembles the neighbouring local form Maroansetra, especially in younger male panther chameleons.

In Madagascar, it is illegal to catch animals in protected areas or even inside national parks. If you find this local form outside Madagascar, you can be sure that the chameleon was either illegally exported or is not from this local form. In most cases, the offered animals are simply sold under the wrong local form name to raise the prices.

Weight table

Gewichtstabelle Furcifer pardalis 2018

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 we have found in Madagascar, as far as the animals (and our scales) are participating. So far there are only a few weights, in the long term an average weight in relation to the snout-vent-length It is important to know that all weights were measured towards the end of the rainy season (= best food supply), so they are probably maximum weights in Madagascar. Triangular symbols in females do not mean pregnant, round symbols mean pregnant. In the case of Furcifer pardalis, contrary to our original assumption, there have been no serious differences in the ratio of SVL to the weight of the individual local forms.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Average temperature	24	25	24	24	23	21	20	20	21	22	23	24
Minimum temperature	20	21	20	20	18	17	16	16	17	17	19	20
Maximum temperature	28	29	28	27	25	25	25	25	25	27	27	28
Rain days	26	23	25	19	17	18	21	21	16	17	20	24

We have collected the data given above over several years with thermometers and hygrometers at the finding places of the chameleons. "Average temperature" means that values of a whole month have been calculated to one average value per month. For example all measured minimum temperature values of February have been calculated to one average minimum temperature for February. In plain language, this means single peak values of a day may be a little higher or lower than the average minimum and maximum temperatures. It is possible that a location has an average maximum temperature of 29°C, but one day during that month it had 33°C or even 35°C there.

The rainforest of Mananara is located at the edge of Antongil bay which is behaving more like an open sea concerning climate. Accordingly, there are often heavy cyclones in spring. During rainy season, it rains daily and very intensively. But also dry season has regular precipitation.

From October to April, it is warmer in Mananara with temperatures above 30°C in sunny places. In the night, temperatures drop a little, but only in dry season fall down to 15°C. High humidity and moderate warmth are the key factors of this region.

Unfortunately, we have no UVB indices for Mananara available yet.

Unfortunately, we have no ground temperatures for Mananara available yet.

Habitat:

Mananara North consists of a rainforest with rocks overgrown with moss, many lianas, huge trees, and very dense undergrowth. In the immediate vicinity of the town, mainly secondary vegetation is found. The soil is very sandy, in keeping with its location directly on a sea bay.