Chamaeleo zeylanicus
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The Indian chameleon (Chamaeleo zeylanicus) is a species of chameleon found in Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and select other parts of South Asia. Like other chameleons, this species moves slowly with a bobbing or swaying movement (attempting to mimic swaying branches) and are usually arboreal. They have an extremely long and sticky tongue, which they use to catch insects from several feet away. Also like other chameleons, C. zeylanicus has bifurcated feet with a tongs-like shape, a prehensile tail, independent eye movement, and the ability to rapidly change skin colouring and patterns. Despite common misconceptions, they do not change their visual appearance based on their surroundings or background, or even for camouflage, and may not even be able to perceive colour differences; rather, it is primarily for communication with others of their species, including to signify the receptiveness of a female (brighter patterns tend to show a willingness to mate) or submissiveness in general disputes (in territorial or male-female disputes, darker hues are often associated with submission, anger or desiring solitude). Additionally, colouring can change for controlling body temperature, changing to darker colours to absorb heat, or lighter to cool themselves. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
More parks will be added in future updates.
No species of the same family or order lives in Mudumalai National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other reptiles.
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Chameleon sighting in Mudumalai National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Chameleon in Mudumalai National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May and October, the lowest months. That is one of Mudumalai National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 230 mm in July.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Indian Chameleon sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Mudumalai National Park, in our data
Mudumalai National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Indian Chameleon sightings: about 30% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Indian Chameleon is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Mudumalai National Park (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
