Oustalet’s chameleon catching an insect by scipbe

Posted on December 29, 2015 by birdmanps

The Oustalet’s or Malagasy giant chameleon (Furcifer oustaleti) is one of the largest species of chameleons. Males can have a length of 60cm while females are smaller. Chameleons are fantastic animals. Each eye can focus independently and they have a 360-degree arc of vision. Many of them can also change the colour of their skin. Colour change happens when communicating, in reactions to temperature changes as well as for camouflaging.

We encountered a wonderful green and big Oustalet’s chameleon in a tree in Isalo national park in southern Madagascar. We noticed that this chameleon had seen an insect and he was moving towards it slowly. So I kept my photo camera ready with a fast shutter speed. All chameleons feed by projecting their long tongues from their mouths to capture prey located some distance away. This occurs at extremely high performance, reaching the prey in as little as 0.07 seconds. Suddenly the chameleon catched the insect with his tongue and two seconds later it was already eaten.

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Avenue of Baobabs by night by scipbe

Posted on December 17, 2015 by birdmanps

Stars and the milky way above the avenue of the baobabs in western Madagascar. The “Avenue of Baobabs”/”Alley of Baobabs”/”Allée des Baobabs” is one of Madagascar’s iconic landmarks.

The region between Morondava and Belon’i Tsiribihina has hundreds of impressive baobabs. But this “avenue” is a prominent group of 25 baobab trees along the dirt road. Baobabs are native of Madagascar. Six of the eight known species are endemic and the baobabs on the “avenue” are “Adansonia grandidieri”, the tallest baobab species. These trees are 30 meters in height and are thought to be more than 800 years old.

The “Avenue of Baobabs” has been portrayed by countless photographers, especially at sunset. I stayed after sunset and I made this photo when there were still shades of orange, pink and purple at the horizon and it was dark enough to see the milky way clearly.

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