# Common Chameleon

*Chamaeleo chamaeleon*

Its eyes can rotate and focus independently, allowing it to scan a full 360-degree arc for predators while remaining perfectly still.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Chordata › Reptilia › Squamata › Chamaeleonidae › Chamaeleo
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** decreasing
- **Biome:** forest
- **Habitat:** Mediterranean scrublands, pine woodlands, olive groves, orchards, and coastal dunes.
- **Diet:** Mainly insects such as grasshoppers, crickets, mantises, and flies, occasionally consuming small invertebrates or plant matter.
- **Range:** Southern Spain, Portugal, North Africa, Greece, Malta, Middle East
- **Size:** 20-40 cm (8-16 inches) in total length, including the prehensile tail
- **Lifespan:** 3-5 years in the wild
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Habitat loss and fragmentation due to tourism and agricultural development, wildfires, road mortality, and illegal collection for the pet trade.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless. Observe from a safe distance of 1-2 meters to avoid causing stress. Do not attempt to handle, as they are fragile and stress easily. If cornered, they may hiss or deliver a weak, non-venomous bite. If bitten, wash the area thoroughly with soap and water.

## About

The common chameleon or Mediterranean chameleon ( Chamaeleo chamaeleon ), together with the African chameleon, C. africanus , is one of only two extant species of Chamaleonidae with a range that extends into Europe.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/0c8c5f30-044c-45e9-9de5-8d7789bb1fdc
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/32864
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamaeleo chamaeleon
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/238823559/medium.jpeg (no rights reserved, CC0, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.