Saeed the Chameleon

LongBeard was sitting peacefully on his red and white toadstool, smoking his harmless herbacco pipe. His friend Colorby, the chameleon, was visiting him. They often sat together and spoke about how the world seemed to be constantly changing. Of course, for Colorby it wasn’t a problem, as he changed his colours as quickly as his environment changed around him!

Colorby was sitting on a colourful flower, chewing on a fly. “Please tell me about humans, LongBeard,” he requested. “My cousin was captured by them and we wonder how he is now.”

“Oh, I know all about your cousin!” exclaimed LongBeard. “I heard a girl on Cybernews talking about him. He's quite a celebrity now! It was heart warming to hear that there are humans who truly love animals and who care for them as much as we do. "

“Really?” exclaimed Colorby. “Who is the girl? Where is she from? Where is my cousin?” “Slowly, slowly,” said LongBeard, “I will tell you everything I heard. The girl is called Marli Henderson and she was interviewed by Scott Lindsay. They are both from a country down South called New Zealand. However, Marli presently lives in Dubai, a desert city where one would expect to find camels, rather than chameleons!”

“How on earth did my cousin end up with New Zealanders in Dubai?” asked Colorby, gasping in surprise.

"The same way you landed in South Africa, Colorby,” laughed LongBeard! “People captured him as a baby in your home country of Madagascar and sold him to a local pet shop, which in turn sold him to a pet shop many miles away in the United Arab Emirates. This is what I heard:

'“Hi, Marli. Thank you for agreeing to speak on Cybernews tonight. We heard that you have a chameleon and we wondered if you would tell our listeners across the world more about him?”

“With the greatest of pleasure,” said Marli, “I love telling everyone about Saeed. "

“Let us just tell our listeners a bit more about chameleons first,” said Scott. “Can you tell us what a chameleon is and where they come from?”

“Sure,” said Marli. “Chameleons are small to mid-size reptiles that are famous for their ability to dramatically change colors. They also have bulging eyes that move independently of one another, and they hold their feet in a grasping position. Some of them have horns on their heads.”

“Does your chameleon have horns?” asked Scott. “Oh yes,” said Marli, “he has two horns that stick out from the front of his head. He is known as an East Usambara chameleon. They are originally from Madagascar, which is home to about half the world's chameleons. Many of his cousins back in Madagascar and Tanzania are unusually big and are known as giant chameleons. However, our chameleon is only about the size of my hand!”

“You say your chameleon is originally from Madagascar - so where did you find him?” asked Scott.

“Well, when I first came to Dubai, I decided to have a turtle to keep me occupied. My husband took me to an old pet shop in Al Barsha so that I could choose one. As I looked around, I saw the cutest little creature at the back of the shop. I ran towards it and there was little Saeed with his hands up against the glass, trying to get out. There and then I said to my husband, ‘I want that one please!’ We ended up buying him the same day.

On the way home in the car, Saeed started turning darker. We were very scared and worried about him. We thought maybe he had turned dark because he was cold, so we turned the air conditioning off. As it is really hot here in the desert it wasn’t a pleasant trip at all!! However, we decided that Saeed was very precious and we were prepared to sacrifice our comfort for his. Little did we know at the time that contrary to popular belief, a chameleon typically does not change colours to match its surroundings. Instead, colour is usually used to convey emotions, to defend territories and communicate with mates. Thinking back, I guess Saeed was just very scared, which is why he changed colour and became so dark.”

“You keep calling him ‘Saeed’”, remarked Scott. “How did you did decide on that name?”

“Well funnily enough, I was doing data entry at work one day and the name Saeed kept popping up in business cards, so I thought it would be a nice name for him. I found out that it means ‘happy’ in Arabic, which suited him very well, as he is always a happy little dude!”

“I have heard that chameleons have special tails used for grasping objects when climbing and moving, and some of them have long tongues for catching insects at a distance. Is this true or is it just a fairytale?” asked Scott.

“Absolutely true,” Marli laughed. “Saeed can climb up and down quite fast, using all four feet as if they were little hands, and his tail as if it were a fifth hand! He loves climbing onto my head and he will grasp my hair so tightly with his little claws that we really struggle to get him to let go!

Saeed normally catches his food from a distance with his tongue, which is as long as his body! However, one day I saw him climb down his tree to get some mealworms from the food dish. To my surprise, he kept edging closer and closer to the dish. I wondered what he was doing. Then he carefully put his front feet on either side of the bowl , opened his mouth and scooped the mealworms up with his jaw! As a chameleon he is supposed to use his tongue, but I think on that day he was being a bit lazy!”

“What else can you tell us about Saeed?” asked Scott. “Saeed is special in every way,’” Marli replied. “One thing which is quite interesting is the way he walks. Like all chameleons, he has a bizarre way of moving. He slowly rocks back and forth between each step, often in time with the movement of nearby leaves blowning in the wind. Mr Saeed is a little ‘groover’ and loves to dance. You can play any song and he will step back and forth in time with the music in this way. We always have a good laugh when we watch Saeed dance.”

“Another interesting thing about Saeed is that he broke his toe nail and it never grew back! What happened was that when Saeed had been with us for about 4 months I got a baby tortoise, called Jerry. I decided that Saeed should meet his ‘brother’. Holding Saeed in one hand and Jerry in the other, I said, ‘Saeed, this is your new brother.’ This caused Saeed to jump out of my hand. He broke his nail when he fell on the floor. Ever since that day it has never grown back!

One day I put Saeed's water bowl next to the mirror. As he got closer, he suddenly started pulling strange faces and puffing himself up. I sat watching him until I realised that he thought that there was another chameleon in the mirror! It was very funny, as he looked like he was praying with his mouth open.”

“Yes,” remarked Scott, “I have heard that chameleons are often aggressive towards members of their own species and this is then marked by rapid color change and aggressive posturing.”

“I have heard that most people keep their pet chameleons in a cage. Where do you keep Saeed?" asked Scott.

“We tried keeping him in a cage, but he didn’t like it at all,” Marli replied. “In fact, Saeed is a naughty little boy who is spoilt rotten by his mummy! When he decided that he didn’t want to sleep in his nice warm cage anymore, we decided that we would buy him a tree. He LOVES it and I think it is because he can go walk-about anytime he wants! Sometimes we will come home after work, look at the tree and think, ‘Hmmm, where is Saeed?’ And then the hunt for him begins! At times we find him on the kitchen rubbish bin, on our shoes, coat hangers, coats, and once even inside the toilet! He is definitely happiest when he has the freedom to go wherever he likes!”

“Has Saeed ever gotten sick?” asked Scott. “Yes,” Marli replied in a more somber tone. “Luckily there is a vet here in Dubai who specialises in reptiles. He has always been able to help us. "

“I guess Saeed is a male?” Scott asked. “We think so,” Marli replied. “He seems to love the ladies, but will hiss and puff up if a man approaches him suddenly. He also has a slight bump near his tail, which we have heard might indicate that he is male.”

Scott closed the interview with a laugh and said, “Well, on a last note, I just want to tell our listeners and viewers something else I read which I thought was interesting. It seems as if chameleons are feared in many areas and care has to be taken that natives don’t kill them. Actually, the name "Chameleon" is derived from the Greek words chamai (on the ground, on the earth) and leon (lion), so their name means "earth lion."

Marli laughed. “He looks more like a miniature dragon than a lion,” she said lovingly. “What I would like to say about chameleons is that they are very intelligent and seem to be almost human in their emotions. If you reprimand Saeed, he will crouch down, but if you laugh and kiss him on his tummy, all is well and he seems all energised again. Also, if he tries to sneak away and you speak to him loudly, he scampers off as fast as he can to escape you. He is definitely very clever, and it seems as if he knows exactly what is being said to him.”

“Well, thank you very much, Marli,” said Scott. “We all learned a lot from you and Saeed today. We trust that all people will take care of their pets and love them as much as you obviously love Saeed.” '

Back on the red and white toadstool, LongBeard went quiet. Colorby sighed. “What a wonderful story,” he said in a satisfied tone. “Thank you LongBeard, I really enjoyed hearing about Marli, Scott and my cousin Saeed. With a contented smile, LongBeard and Colorby went back to their homes.

2010 Copyright © LongBeard stories Susan Bellingan Fourie