The Canopy Glow That Falls and Disappears

Calumma globifer is a large canopy chameleon of Madagascar's eastern rainforests, often seen astonishingly high above the ground rather than in understory vegetation. Adults and juveniles alike use height as their primary refuge, resting on exposed branches where their cryptic pattern merges with moss, lichen, and bark.

Sitting high in the canopies, the babies of C. globifer attain at night rather bright colors ranging from beige through green to orange. Once their branch shakes, indicating danger — a lemur, snake, or bird — they drop to the ground. There they adapt an orange cryptic color on the same colored leaves, and no one can find them anymore.