Charmeleon #005

The chameleon is a specialized type of lizard, being able to change color to blend in with its immediate environment as a form of camouflage.

Common chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon) turned black

Rickjpelleg (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Chinese crocodile lizard

Greg Hume (CC BY-SA 4.0)

“The Chinese crocodile lizard (Shinisaurus crocodilurus) is a semiaquatic anguimorph [venomous] lizard found only in cool forests in southeastern China and northeastern Vietnam. The Chinese crocodile lizard spends much of its time in shallow water or in overhanging branches and vegetation, where it hunts its prey of insects, snails, tadpoles, and worms… A rare and little-studied lizard, it is listed in CITES Appendix II (CITES 2021), which regulates international trade of specimens (Convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora 2016). This is the only species in the monotypic genus Shinisaurus (Huang et al. 2008). It is the only living member of Shinisauria, a clade of lizards whose fossil record extends back to the Early Cretaceous, over 120 million years ago.”

“Surviving subpopulations of Chinese crocodile lizards primarily occupy isolated fragments of land in Guangxi and Guandong provinces of southeastern China. The Vietnamese subspecies is only found on Yên Tử Mountain in Quảng Ninh and Bac Giang provinces of northeastern Vietnam. Shinisaurus crocodilurus live alongside clear streams within subtropical broadleaf evergreen forests. They have a habitual preference for remote streams in undisturbed areas such as mountain ridges and dense forests (van Schingen et al. 2016).”

-Wikipedia

"Chinese crocodile lizard". CITES. 12 December 2021.

"CoP17 Prop. 33: Transfer Shinisaurus crocodilurus Ahl, 1930 from Appendix II to Appendix I". 5 February 2016.

Huang, C. M., et al. (2008). Population and conservation strategies for the Chinese crocodile lizard (Shinisaurus crocodilurus) in China. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation 31(2) 63-70.

van Schingen, Mona; Duc Le, Minh; Thi Ngo, Hanh; The Pham, Cuong; Quy Ha, Quynh; Quang Nguyen, Truong; Ziegler, Thomas (2016). "Is there more than one Crocodile Lizard? An Integrative Taxonomic Approach Reveals Vietnamese and Chinese Shinisaurus crocodilurus Represent Separate Conservation and Taxonomic Units". Der Zoologische Garten 85 (5): 240–260. doi:10.1016/j.zoolgart.2016.06.001.