"H. R. U ~ His Royal Ugliness ~ and Friends" Malaza Travelogue by Norali

Tarongo is its name...

Bigger & uglier than the average chamilion... in an unusual beige & brown shades.

Lives in the shrub along the alley to enter my yard.

About 30-35cm long, tail included

Watch out the spines !

My latest goosebumps... I had them two days ago while strolling in my yard & being struck by the sudden sight of H.R.U ~ His Royal Ugliness ~ I've never seen such an ugly thing... really! This beige & brown animal is a chamilion but amongst the biggest, & should I repeat it, the ugliest ... not green as are most chamilions but this beige & brown shades combination.

When I look at this tarongo, I can understand how it could become an endangered species, one day. It doesn't do harm. Doesn't bite (as far as I know). Not poisonous. Plus, chamilions use to eat mozzies... Good boy ! The only thing is... H.R.U is really ugly & humans being humans (so stupid!), I wouldn't be surprised if they'd kill it for the sake of fun (well, I sense that would be a behaviour governed by the fear of the unusual, the different, and why not, the ugly).

When I went on telling my housemaid about the "ugly big chamilion near the gate", she told it had been there for months. That it had been years this tarongo used to migrate within our village, visiting each plots of land, exposing itself to the disgusted looks of the villagers. Even that some people in the village had seen bigger tarongos... Yucks! and they are still there... "travelling" from tree to tree, nipping over new plots of lands, enjoying some long stints here & there.

Well, seems I was fortunately wrong, it is not that humans are disgusted by a tarongo look that they'll still kill it... So happy I'm so wrong. I've read though about ancient peoples who killed unharmful animals just because those were unusual, different or perceived as a threat because of some ugly & ferocious look...

In its all splendour

True, it has been days that I went tracking down some chamilions in my garden... the green ones. I enjoyed doing this as as I was so sick, strolling in the yard was the only exercise I could afford. So, contemplating the fauna & flora is a great thing these days... to keep me away from the bed. As some chamilions use to hide in the foliage by having the same shades as its leaves, it certainly takes some seasoned eye to spot them. The smaller & more common ones are the coloured chamilions (those that can change colours according their mood... their bodies can have carmin, white, black, yellow, green tints at a time). They are easier to spot. They were so numerous in June... The green ones must have taken on as I cannot see the coloured ones anymore.

When I suddenly saw the beige tarongo, first I had a gooseskin. I couldn't believe it was a chamilion, was rather thinking of a gecko... but looking closer at its head, I was so amazed to state it was a chamilion... a big & ugly one... More gooseskin.

I like him here...

After all the things I said about it, still can find it lovely...

On this picture, it simply resembles all chamilions... so quick to ramp whenever they need to (to flee a danger, to run for food). Otherwise, they just stay quite on a place, rolling their eyes to watch around... I guess, for a mozzie, a dragonfly, a cricket...

The thing to do is probably not to have a close-up of a tarongo... but too bad, It is posted as my intro pic of this album. Gotcha !

Well, still in my camera are pictures of him munching on a mante religieuse (have to check dictionary to call it in English).

Moving like a crocodile

One of shots I'm quite proud of... I don't talk about technics, I talk about the perfect timing... I wanted to take a picture of his ondulating body... and look! got it !
The same ondulation as seen on a croc...

He's flaking... renewal time, old man ?

Meanwhile... pictures of one of his cousin.

The green chamilion... It has a thin carmin line & a white ones along its body but its colour is mainly green. But again, in two-three shades of green ! Nothing is simple in this world! lol.

This green chamlion is a bit bigger than the average multi-coloured chamilion.