From Book News, Inc.
Herpetologists from Madagascar and the US offer a detailed profile of the species Furcifer pardalis, which is able to tolerate a broad variety of disturbed or human-produced habitat and so faces less survival pressure than most Madagascar chameleons. They provide a preliminary quantitative analysis of geographic variation in color based on photographs of wild and captive specimens from known localities. Their advice on husbandry and captive management is based on their own experience and research.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Book Description
This is one of the first monographs to present a comprehensive study of the natural history of a single high-profile lizard species, the popular Malagasy panther chameleon. It is the first attempt to come to grips with the complex, often confusing, color variation of the species and illustrates these variations with 69 beautiful color photographs. The authors have drawn from the scattered literature, their extensive experience, and experimental study in the field and laboratory to provide original information and conclusions. They emphasize both the known and the unknown, presenting clear avenues for future investigation. They make a case for the panther chameleon as a model organism with value for research, education, herpetoculture, and conservation. This work also reviews the history of keeping chameleons in captivity and provides up-to-date guidelines for captive management of the panther chameleon based on the authors' own multigeneration captive colony.

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