Were Chameleons of Madagascar affected by Tsunamis?

Does anyone know if there was any ill effect on the habitat or island of Madagascar caused by the recent Tsunamis? I was just worried that with so much destruction over there, that a large part of the wild chameleon population might have been adversly affected. Any info or thoughts would be great.

Thanks in advance....Dave

I know some Indio Chameleon farms were hit hard but I have not heard any news from Madagascar. I would think it would have been in the range of that Tsunami without a doubt although it is unlikely to really have made a significant dent in the Cham population from the main and surrounding islands. It will be some time I'm sure before the full effects of this tragdy are realized. I know that the tropical fish trade was probably the hardest hit, so stock up now on those rare fish from that region as I am sure imports won't be coming back in for some time .

-Matt

The majority of Madagascar was probably spared by the rescent event. The coastal regions probably suffered some flooding but the damage is likely to be far less than what is experianced during a major tropical storm.
The only news reports stated that flooding caused some to be homeless in the south east.

Carl

It is surprising how many animals

and especially reptiles don't really get effected by these natural disasters. i don't know if it was on this forum, but i compared my many trips to Florida and the peninsula of Cape San Blas ( St. Joseph Bay ) to the Tsunami. The Cape has been hit by more than 7 to 8 hurricains in the 20 plus or 30 years that i have camped out there. In all trips I have seen numerous native animals including mammals still on that peninsula. This area has been under water several times. Of reptiles that has been through these hurricains that I have still observed are : florida box turtles or the gulf coast box turtles ( you would think that they would drown ) , legless lizards, anoles, rat snakes, fence swifts, all the frogs of that region, etc. Of mammals: racoons, skunks, species of rats and mice. Maybe the thought of chams of the Tsunami region is thought to have been in trouble because of the light weight of the species and the water/wave thing. But it doesn't appear so. On the salt water species of fish and inverts, as in Florida of hurricains, no, the turning of the ocean actualy brings many speicies in and appears un-harmed. Now I don't know if you can say the same for larger species of fish and what not as i saw some picture of sharks on land. Why don't one of the Floridanians chime in here on the Andrew hurricain that hit the metro zoo of Miami and the other animal institutes like the many bird farms in Florida.

I live in Tampa and have lived through alot of hurricanes. Most of them coming pretty darn close. I live about 1/4 mile from the top of Tampa bay and I have never seen anything like what i am seeing in the reports lately. We get high winds and a little flooding from them, but if a 40 foot wave hit the coast here.....my house and everything around would probably be gone. As far as Andrew....I think nothing was safe from him!!

I was wondering how much of the Island is flat, and might have been adversly affected. I was led to understand that most of the chameleons live in the northern part of the island which is more mountainous. Is this true? And does anyone have pictures of Madagascar that they can share?

Dave

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/world/0412/flash.tsunami.explainer/frameset.exclude.html

Here is a good illustration on the tsunami's

I visited Madagascar in Oct-Nov 2003. The majority of the Calumma species live in the dense east coast forests. The furcifer are spread across the island from north to south. Brookesia are also concentrated along the north and east but a few species have adapted to the west.

Along the east coast the mountains would have protected a good majority of the Calumma species. I would think the only threat to chameleons would have been to pardalis, verrucosus and lateralis that live in the coastal towns. Even then the water would have to be awfully high and fast moving to uproot the tree's and bush's.

The majority of small islands that belong to Madagascar are very mountainous so the Chameleons were probably spared.

Carl

Matt Jillson said:

I know some Indio Chameleon farms were hit hard

Click to expand...

Matt,

Which farms were these? Do you mean India or Indonesia?

I've heard there was damage to the Seychelles and Madagascar but I've not seen figures as to the extent. I also heard that the death tolls in Africa was relatively small compared to the rest of the areas effected (less than 200 total I heard).

Chris

Matt,

I'm still curious about the chameleon farms in "Indio". The ones in Indonesia are on Java and Bali (islands which were not damaged by the tsunamis) and I'm not aware of any India chameleon farms. Which farm are you talking about?

Anyone heard any more on Madagascar damage?

Chris

Howdy Chris,

I'm doing a copy/paste of a posted msg from a Travel Site regarding Madagascar :


http://www.virtualtourist.com/f/p/1dbf0/

About the 7th one down on that listing-

------------------------------------------

Answer: Re: Re: tsunami damage to madagascar
Thursday December 30 20:48:29 2004 UTC

A: OK.. there seems to be consequences in some regions. Still Madagascar is the less-hit of the islands in Indian Ocean:

** ... In southeast Madagascar, an estimated 1,200 people were made homeless when the sea suddenly rose and engulfed 150 homes. ... * in
http://www.rense.com/general61/asay.htm

This has reportedly happened in South-Eastern coast, Manakara region.
Sambava and Antalaha (North) would be touched as well.
---------------------------------------------

See Ya,

Dave Weldon

I would think most of the trees are tall and large enough to withstand a 3 story wave. that arent near the coast. The chameleons would just climb to the top of the tree where the water wouldnt reach. I guess it all depends on the trees roots and how many trees its connected to.



CK