{"id":12836,"date":"2023-03-10T11:46:43","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T10:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.madcham.de\/?p=12836"},"modified":"2024-11-15T14:23:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T13:23:50","slug":"lokalform-masoala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madcham.de\/en\/lokalform-masoala\/","title":{"rendered":"Local form Masoala"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Distribution of the local form Masoala:<\/h4>\n

Masoala National Park is located on the east coast of Madagascar on the peninsula of the same name. The rainforest here reaches directly to the sea – the peninsula borders the Bay of Antongil. With more than 2100 km\u00b2, Masoala is Madagascar’s largest national park and also the country’s largest contiguous rainforest. The rainforest, which is now recognised as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, ranges in altitude from sea level to 1224 metres. Masoala has been severely threatened by deforestation and slash and burn for years. For the most part, the park boundaries are hardly visually discernible, especially in the northeast, and are constantly being displaced by the creation of illegal fields. Illegal logging of rosewood and other precious woods is a recurring theme in the region.<\/p>\n

Ecotourism activities in Masoala National Park are limited to the western side of the park in Antongil Bay. To get there, you fly about 700 km by plane from the capital Antananarivo to Maroantsetra<\/a> at the northern end of Antongil Bay. From there, it is a two to three hour boat ride to Tampolo beach. There, most travellers use one of the four rustic hotels for visits to the national park. Unfortunately, there are still no guides specialised in reptiles in Masoala. In addition, the rainforest is very tall and dense, which makes it difficult to find animals.<\/p>\n

The Antainambalana River separates the Masoala peninsula from the town of Maroantsetra<\/a>. At the easternmost tip of the national park, there is also a buffer zone of mangroves and secondary vegetation, bordered by Cap<\/a> Est<\/a>. Several rivers run northwards, almost all of which have their source in the high elevations of Masoala. In the bay of Antongil lies the island of Nosy<\/a> Mangabe<\/a>, which officially belongs to Masoala National Park, but is listed as a separate local form on our pages because of its isolation as an island.<\/p>\n

Appearance of the local form:<\/h4>\n

Surprisingly, the local form Masoala looks completely different from the nearby local<\/a> form<\/a> Cap<\/a> Est<\/a>. Panther chameleons in Masoala are very similar to those of the nearby local<\/a> form<\/a> Maroansetra<\/a>. The males are green on the body with yellow-orange tints on the chest and belly. The limbs and head are usually deep red, although the casqueand bridge of the nose remaining green. When excited, the animals often show more and more intense red and more orange tones in the abdominal area.<\/p>\n\t

\r\n\t\t\nIt is illegal in Madagascar to take animals from protected areas or even national parks. Anyone who finds this local form outside Madagascar can be sure that the chameleons were either exported illegally or that it is not this local form. In almost all cases, they are simply animals of other local forms that are sold under false names to increase the price.\t<\/div>\r\n\t\n

Weight table<\/h4>\n

\"Gewichtstabelle<\/p>\n

Since 2015, we have been measuring the weights of chameleons we found on Madagascar, as far as the animals (and our scales) cooperate. In the long term, the aim is to obtain an average weight in relation to the head-torso 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 are probably maximum weights on Madagascar<\/strong>. Triangular symbols on females mean not pregnant, round symbols mean pregnant. In the case of Furcifer pardalis<\/em>, contrary to our original assumption, it has so far turned out that there are no serious differences in the ratio of the SVL to the weight between the individual local forms.<\/p>\n

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