Look who we spotted outside our house!

I’ve only ever seen chameleons in zoos before. Even then I’ve never seen one move, aside from minor eyeball action. The first thing to note about chameleons is that they are HILARIOUS when they walk. They walk like they’ve never tried on a pair of legs before. All wobbles and tentative steps. And the way they put their feet down, it’s like they have some sort of OCD aversion to the ground. I got a lot of eyeball action as he eyed me and my camera suspiciously.

The chameleon walked passed me, minding his own business and hoping that I’d mind mine. He climbed up the trunk of a large garden shrub – and thus began a game that I call Chameleon Hide-and-Seek. It goes like this:

Chameleon climbs into a shrub.
I follow it with my camera, hoping to catch the moment it turns green.
Chameleon disappears
I never see it again
Given that the chameleon clearly has magical powers, I think the game was a little unfair. But I don’t hold grudges.

And that brings me on to my Very Important Question. It’s an Important Question because I’ve wondered it since childhood. I’m sure many Cypriot children have asked this question and found out for themselves when their neighbourhood chameleon stopped by. Here it is:

If I’d put my purple bath towel on the ground for the chameleon to walk over, would it have turned purple?? And what about if I’d put my blue tea towel next to the purple bath towel? Would the chameleon’s head have been blue and its body purple as it stepped from one to the other? But what if its toenails were still touching the tarmac? Would they have stayed grey?

Sadly, there wasn’t time to find out before the chameleon disappeared. But I feel a scientific experiment coming on next time I see it. If I see it. Which I probably won’t. Because I suck at Chameleon Hide-and-Seek.