Red Panther

Like most species of chameleons, the panther chameleon is very territorial. It spends the majority of its life in isolation, apart from mating sessions. When two males come into contact, they will change color and inflate their bodies, attempting to assert their dominance. Often these battles end at this stage, with the loser retreating, turning drab and dark colors. Occasionally, the displays result in physical combat if neither contender backs down.

Oustalet’s Chameleon

This huge chameleon species thunders over branches, its eyes darting left and right for a dragonfly or hissing cockroach to feast upon.

Blue Panther

Panther Chameleons are a large species of chameleon found in Northern Madagascar. ‘Furciferi’ refers to their specialized feet, which allow the panther chameleon to achieve a tight grip on narrow branches. Each toe is equipped with a sharp claw to gain traction on surfaces such as bark when climbing.

Parson’s Chameleon

Another large chameleon species, more robust and muscular but not quite as long as the Oustalet’s, this species is found in Northern and Eastern Madagascar. A small mayfly has caught this one’s attention.

Big Appetite

Parson's chameleons are omnivorous, eating most plants, insects and possibly small birds. They are primarily listed as insectivores because their diet mainly consists of: mantis, large beetles, moths, and roaches including the Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa). They have been speculated to eat small mammals and birds and are known to eat other lizard species.

Red Heart

It is a common misconception that chameleons of any kind can change color to match any color of their environments. All chameleons have a natural color range with which they are born, and is dictated by their species. It is affected by temperature, mood, and light. If, for example, the color purple is not within the range of colors to which their particular species can change, then they will never turn purple.

Beady Eyed

The eyes of a chameleon are their most distinctive feature. The upper and lower eyelids are joined, with only a pinhole large enough for the pupil to see through. They can rotate and focus separately to observe two different objects simultaneously; their eyes move independently from each other. It in effect gives them a full 360-degree arc of vision around their bodies. When prey is located, both eyes can be focused in the same direction, giving sharp stereoscopic vision and depth perception.

Wet Coils

The humidity of the rainforest shows up as dew drops on this female chameleon’s tail.

Dainty Head

A female flap-eared chameleon surveys the outside world with gentle eyes.

Tree Patrol

A fiery red male chameleon makes his way along a branch, eyes fixed upon prey or foe.

The King

A large Parson’s Chameleon puffs out his chest and sides, demonstrating his sizable girth. The king has chosen green robes for the evening.

Wise Eyes

They have witnessed brutal fights from canopy heights, fellows being lifted off by hungry hawks and thousands of locusts zapped from their resting branches during insect migration and reptilian feeding sprees.

Up in the Canopy

A dazzling tail is kept coiled till the first rays of morning sunshine touch its delicate scales. The lush rain forest of Ranomafana drips from every leaf, petal and chameleon.

The Rival

A Panther chameleon surveys the world above him. Branches are weighed down by mighty kings and horned knights. His blood red armor shimmers in the Malagasy light. Today might be his last chance for domination and the title of alpha male.

A Poisonous Gift

Our guide lifts a toxic poison arrow frog from the forest floor. These tiny frogs are common on islands such as Nosy Be and Nosy Tanginely.

Perfect Camouflage

An expert of disguise, the Leaf-Tailed Gecko is in the perfect position for ambush. No fly, weevil or mantis could escape those lichen covered jaws of death.

Lord Leaf Tail

Like the Eye of Sauron a gecko opens his jupiter-esque orb to peer through the undergrowth. Leaf Tail geckos are superb spies.

Lemuring Away

A Golden Bamboo Lemur licks his fingers clean after dealing with a bunch of sticky figs.

Table Manners

Licking of fingers is only natural when one wants to savor the very sweetest parts of a juicy mango.

Tree-Heads

Bamboo lemurs prefer damp forests where bamboo grows. Although they can be active any time of the day, they are often active just after dawn. Though primarily arboreal, they sometimes come down to the ground. The Lac Alaotra gentle lemur or bandro (Hapalemur alaotrensis), which lives in the reed beds of Lac Alaotra, spends much of its time in water and can swim well, unlike other lemur species, which only venture to water to drink.

Reaching Down

The red-fronted brown lemur is a skilled acrobat.

Wondrous Bamboo Lemurs

One of the rarest lemur species is this orange-capped fuzzball. His forward-looking red eyes, flat nose and human-like little hands make him a remarkable creature to behold for the first time.

My Rainforest

A bamboo lemur gazes fondly over her home.

Livelihood

Gestation lasts 135 to 150 days and ends between September and January, when the female bears one to two young. These are weaned after about four months (if the food supply is ample) and are fully mature at two years of age. Their life expectancy is up to 12 years.

Super Powers

They are called bamboo lemurs because they almost exclusively eat bamboo. How bamboo lemurs can detoxify the high amounts of cyanide (from bamboo shoots) in their diets is unknown.

Chin Up

Lemurs live in family groups and take it in turns to guard their territories up in the forest canopy.

Lemur Games

A bit of ‘‘I see your bald patch’’ is in order.

Hand Taste

When lemurs are awake and active depends on their size. Small lemurs are typically nocturnal, which means they are active at night. Larger lemurs, such as this Ruffed lemur are considered diurnal, which means they are active during the day.

Balanced Diet

Some lemurs are herbivores, which means they do not eat meat. They love fruit, but will also eat flowers, leaves, tree bark and sap. Other lemurs are omnivores and eat a variety of foods that include fruits, nectar, flowers and leaves with a side of insects, spiders and small vertebrates, according to the World Animal Foundation.

Nervy Future

According to the World Animal Foundation, 16 percent of all lemurs are classified as critically endangered, 23 percent are classified as endangered, 25 percent are classified as vulnerable, 28 percent are "data deficient" and 8 percent are classified as least concern.

Inquisitive Chappie

The look says it all. Lemurs are hopelessly curious.

Reflections in Ranomafana River

t least 106 lemur species are known to science, and nearly all of them face a realistic risk of extinction by midcentury. As IUCN lemur expert Jonah Ratsimbazafy told the BBC in 2015, their environment is crumbling all around them. "Just as fish cannot survive without water, lemurs cannot survive without forest," said Ratsimbazafy, noting less than 10 percent of Madagascar's original forest remains.

Moving Out

The diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema), or diademed simpona, is an endangered species of sifaka, one of the lemurs endemic to certain rainforests in eastern Madagascar.

Social Behaviour

The diademed sifaka forms groups typically of two to ten individuals, which may include multiple male and female adults. Each troop defends an exclusive home territory of 25 to 50 hectares (62 to 125 acres) using perimeter scent territorial marking by both the males and females.

Balanced Diet

A lemur tucks into a fig whilst keeping a beady eye on his rival close by.

Varied Diet

To accomplish this it consumes a diet high in energy content and diverse in plant content, each day consuming over 25 different vegetative species. This diurnal lemur further diversifies its diet by consuming not only fruits, but certain flowers, seeds and verdant leaves, in proportions that vary by season.

Lemur Acrobatics

The ease by which lemurs are able to dart from trunk to trunk and zip along the tree canopy is astonishing. Here, a Diademed Sifaka reaches out for a cluster of figs.

Quick Mover

P. diadema is thought to traverse the greatest daily path distance relative to other members of its family in its patrolling and foraging, attaining a typical travel distance in excess of 1.6 kilometres (one mile) per day.