{"id":12583,"date":"2022-12-05T19:55:36","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T18:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.madcham.de\/?p=12583"},"modified":"2025-05-25T16:04:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T14:04:36","slug":"calumma-jejy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madcham.de\/en\/calumma-jejy\/","title":{"rendered":"Calumma jejy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\n\t\tCITES quotas<\/strong>
\nno legal export possible\t<\/div>\r\n\t\n

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First description:\"IUCN<\/a><\/h4>\n

Raxworthy & Nussbaum, 2006 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Origin of the species name:<\/h4>\n

Christopher J. Raxworthy of the American Museum of Natural History, New York (USA) and Ronald A. Nussbaum of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (USA), named this chameleon species after its origin, the mountain range of Marojejy. Jejy<\/em> is Malagasy and has several meanings, including local round stones, rain, animals, and ancestral spirits. Raxyworthy and Nussbaum also found the name fitting because several individuals of the species have been discovered basking on stones – the very ones called jejy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Distribution:<\/h4>\n

Calumma jejy<\/em> is found exclusively in the area around the summit of the Marojejy Mountains in north-eastern Madagascar. The species lives mainly in the unusually barren habitat above the rainforest to just below the boundary where the rainforest begins.<\/p>\n

Marojejy is a national park that is very difficult to access. Travelers regularly visit the two lower camps, to which you already have to walk for several hours. Calumma jejy<\/em>, however, is only found much higher up. So far it has been found between 2132 m and 1800 m, with a higher chance of finding it in the upper distribution area. Around the summit at 2132 m, the weather changes very quickly and the steep climb of several hours is extremely exhausting. Therefore, only a few travelers dare to climb up to Camp Simpona (the third camp) or even higher to the summit. And the few who make it to the top need a lot of luck with the weather to find chameleons. As a result, Calumma jejy<\/em> had effectively not been found or photographed since 1992. The first three photos at the top of the slider were taken in 2022 by our local guide Franco Rajaoarison (and are used here with his kind permission). He had finally rediscovered Calumma jejy<\/em> after we had intensively tried to find the species a few weeks earlier and had left material for species recognition (laminated species descriptions and one of our field guides). In 2025, we were finally able to see them \u2018live and in colour\u2019 in their natural habitat.<\/p>\n

Appearance and size:<\/h4>\n

Calumma jejy<\/em> belongs to the medium-sized chameleons. They reach a snout-vent-length of just under 10 cm, with total lengths up to 20 cm. Both sexes have large occipital lobes, which are fused centrally over about 3 mm. The gular crest is well-defined and up to two millimetres high. Females also carry a dorsal crest, which is not heavily serrated in the distal half of the tail in males.\u00a0 Neither sex carries a rostral appendage, which is unusual. In all similar species of the genus Calumma<\/em>, the males carry at least a small rostral appendage – only Calumma jejy<\/em> is an exception here.<\/p>\n

The somewhat larger, bright turquoise conical scales, which are found on the body trunk as well as on the arms and legs, are a striking feature of the scalation. Colour-wise, Calumma jejy<\/em> always shows white lips and a white lateral stripe, the body’s ground colour is beige to brownish. The occipital lobes are more reddish brown, with the lower end picking up the white of the lateral stripe.<\/p>\n

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