Baby Chameleons!

Sometimes it feels like Chogoria is the chameleon capital of the world.  Nary a week goes by without the boys finding a chameleon, or two or three or more.  And the number of chameleon-related adventures we've had could fill a book: Jackson's chameleons battling with their horns, a chameleon missing part of its leg, another chameleon missing an eyeball, a chameleon vs. praying mantis battle for the ages, burying a dead chameleon and then digging up its bones to reassemble and learn about its skeleton...

Not to mention that one time we discovered a mama chameleon in our "chameleon tree" who had given birth to more than 30 babies!

And then last week we had the privilege of watching a mama chameleon give birth.  We didn't just stumble upon a batch of babies crawling all through the tree after they were born.  We stumbled upon a mama in the middle of giving birth!

Well, "stumble upon" isn't quite right.  The boys had found this pregnant mama a week before and affectionately named her Greenie.  We knew she'd be having babies given the size of her girth, so we put her in the chameleon tree outside our house and kept a daily watch of her activity.  Then, by sheer luck, I happened to look out the window one day to see how she was doing only to find that she had moved somewhere I couldn't see (which was unusual because, as we've learned, pregnant chameleons nearing the end of their pregnancy tend to stay in one spot for days on end), so I went outside to try and find where Greenie went and found her laboring, literally!  I watched her push out a gooey sac with nothing in it and knew she had just opened the way for all the babies to come out.

I ran for my camera and shouted for the boys to come quickly!  Then they ran for the Webbers who also came quickly, and we all experienced a science show of a lifetime right outside our front door.

Greenie is a Jackson's chameleon, a species which is unique from most other chameleon species in that they give live birth.  Most chameleons, like other reptiles, lay eggs.  But not Jackson's.  They give live birth, which means they are viviparous.  This was science at its best!

Before posting a slew of pictures of chameleon birth (which could potentially be unappreciated by the squeamish), here are some photos of the babies.  They are the tiniest, cutest, most active little things!

And now for photos of the birthing process...  Notice the baby chameleon climbing on a leaf in front of its mother (a few photos down).  More than once we saw a new baby climb on or over Greenie even as she was pushing out another one.  It was a rather hilarious picture of motherhood!

And here's a video of the baby coming out of its sac and beginning its life in this world:

Here's a video of another baby being born, from a different angle.  It was so incredible!

As you can see, after a baby was born, it would sit motionless in its sac for a few moments before wriggling its way free and out into the world.  Then the kids would swoop in to take it and put it in a bin for the sake of counting them all before releasing them.  Sometimes, when the kids were a bit too eager to catch the babies, they would get one before it had completely left the birthing fluid behind.  Hence there were moments like this:

There was a lot of chameleon birthing fluid around the tree, not only because Greenie had 16 babies but also because she moved around every time she birthed another one.  She never gave birth in the same place twice.  In the midst of all the excitement (with everyone surrounding the tree and reaching in hard-to-reach places to catch a chameleon), Lucy realized at one point that she'd gotten some birthing fluid in her hair.  Egad!  It was gross but hilarious and, thankfully, easily washed out.

It took awhile, but eventually Greenie was done giving birth.  After the last baby came out, she didn't move for a long time.  That poor mama was exhausted!  Eventually she moved to a well-hidden spot where she was mostly covered by leaves and perfectly camouflaged with her surroundings, and she rested after her labors.

Meanwhile, the kids had a bunch of baby chameleons to play with!  And oh how fun it was!

Lauren and I even put our cameras down for a bit so we could enjoy holding the babies too :)

Soon enough it was time to release the babies back into the wild.  The kids gathered them all up and released them in various trees and bushes around the yard.

Baby chameleons, like most reptiles, are completely independent the moment they are born.  It's fascinating to think about, and all the more fascinating to watch.  Once they started crawling on their own, that was it.  Greenie had nothing to do with them, nor would she ever.  They were responsible for making it in this world on their own.  Which is possible because of their natural instincts, given by our Creator God.  So incredible!

All in all, I'd say our homeschool got off to a great start in 2021!