Do the chameleons curl the tail up or down?
All chameleons curl their tail physiologically DOWN...
... but some chameleons curl their tails also UP...
Female Furcifer minor, courtesy Jurgen van Overbeke
Juvenile male Furcifer minor, courtesy Jurgen van Overbeke
Male Calumma parsonii, courtesy Kent Manchen
...the tribal African art depicts chameleons very often with tails curled UP...
Ring, Senufo tribe, Guinea
Ashanti Gold Weights, Ghana
Comb, Lobi tribe, Burkina Faso
Chameleons possess prehensile tail which are primarily curled down, under the body axis.
In the tribal art, however, they are very often depicted with tails curled up. This fits even to tribes which are very familiar with the chameleon and its anatomy like the West-African Senufo, Ashanti or Lobi...
Why they do remains a mystery...
However, some chameleons, are limitedly capable to curl their tail up, specifically:
- if they whip with it vigorously during an aposematic behavior (like the depicted male and female of
Furcifer minor) or if they walk on the ground (like the depicted male and male of Calumma parsonii).
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