Kwazulu Dwarf Chameleon Case Study

“KwaZulu Dwarf Chameleon” is the official common name for this chameleon, where the name can be internationally recognised. Its original name was the “black-headed dwarf chameleon”, however it is unsuitable due to it lacking the feature of a black head. The reason why it was named this in the first place, is because a museum had the specimen that acquired a black head due to preservation processes.
Local names given to this chameleon include Durban dwarf chameleon, unwabu (isiZulu), KwaZulu-dwergverkleurmannetjie (Afrikaans) and iLovane (isiXhosa). These languages are mentioned as they are the main speaking languages of the area in which the KwaZulu Dwarf Chameleon lives.

There are 15 described species that fall under the genus Bradypodion from which this chameleon belongs, this number of species may increase with future research and new discoveries.
According to the Reptile Atlas and the National Threatened or Protected Species list for Reptiles (2015), this chameleon is listed in the vulnerable category, however during studies in the time of 1995-2001, it was categorised as a …show more content…
Due to this limited distribution and slow relocation of chameleons, they may easily be run over by cars, have less vegetation to hide from predators and they become easy targets for people to steal and sell them illegally at high prices on the international pet trade. These chameleons are driven to find homes in urban gardens where pesticides are prominent and they become a soft target for domestic cats and dogs. Their slow movement does not help them in this matter. These are the reasons why they have this conservation status and why we should all act in protecting these special creatures, endemic to the area we live