Feral Chameleons Chamaeleonidae
Chameleons escaped or introduced to places, where they are not indigenous, building reproducing populations, sometimes considered invasive
Huge wealth of knowledge, on taxonomy, life history, distribution, biotopes, behavior, pictures, conservation etc. on following sites:
Chameleons inhabit naturally-autochtoneously three continents:
Africa incl. Madagascar and off-shore Islands (majority of species)
Asia (from ear East to India and Sri Lanka) and
Europe (here only some eastern Mediterranean islands)...
Thanks to humans, the have been introduced to a series of countries, sometimes intentionally (for fun, for wild harvesting), sometimes as an incident (escapees, abandoned specimens after hurricanes or unwanted pets...) and in some territories, they were capable of building a more or less stable and reproducing populations, sometimes "thriving" and even expanding to other territories, and/or considered "invasive species", sometimes not doing especially well...
Finds of live or dead animals have been reported:
CZECHIA: C. calyptratus, T. hoehnelii;
SWITZERLAND: C. chamaeleon;
GREAT BRITAIN: C. calyptratus misidentified as F. pardalis;
SPAIN (Mallorca): C. calyptratus;
INDONESIA (Bali): C. oshaughnessyi, C. brevicorne.
List of the known feral populations of chameleons:
Chamaeleo calyptratus:
FLORIDA, USA
HAWAII, USA (reported as eradicated already but still present)
CALIFORNIA, USA (San Diego area)
TAIWAN
CANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN
Furcifer pardalis:
FLORIDA, USA
MAURITIUS (maybe autochtonous)
REUNION, FRANCE (maybe autochtonous)
ANJOUAN, COMOROS
Furcifer polleni:
ANJOUAN, COMOROS
Trioceros jacksonii:
FLORIDA, USA
CALIFORNIA, USA
LOUSIANA, USA
HAWAII, USA
Trioceros hoehnelii altaeelgonis:
MABIRA FOREST, UGANDA
Chamaeleo africanus:
PELOPONNESE, GREECE
Kinyongia multituberculata
NAIROBI, KENYA
Kinyongia tavetana
NAIROBI, KENYA
Bradypodion ventrale
W CAPE, RSA
BLOEMFONTAIN, RSA
WELKOM, RSA
JOHANNESBURG, RSA
STANDERTON, RSA
SECUNDA, RSA
Furcifer oustaleti:
FLORIDA, USA
KENYA (extinct)
Chamaeleo chamaeleon:
MEDITERRANEAN COAST, SPAIN
MEDITERRANEAN COAST, PORTUGAL
MALTA, GOZO
CRETE, GREECE (unconfirmed)
CANARY ISLANDS, Spain (unconfirmed)
SICILY, ITALY (unconfirmed)
APULIA, ITALY
CALABRIA, ITALY