A vegetable seller found a surprise guest inside a box of cauliflower. Chameleons aren't normally known to frequent northern Germany.
The chameleon has been taken to wildlife carersImage: Polizeidirektion Bad Segeberg
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A German vegetable vendor discovered a chameleon inside a box of cauliflower, local police said on Thursday.
The shopkeeper was unpacking vegetables when he made the discovery in Bilsen, in the far north of Germany, 125 kilometers (80 miles) from the Danish border.
He told police that the cauliflower had been exported from France.
Police said the chameleon seemed healthy at the time.
"When we looked into the cauliflower box, two peeping eyes, moving independent of each other, were staring at us from the vegetation," a police spokesman said in a statement.
"The four-legged creature, which was presumably born in Africa, did not show any signs of the immense strain of the journey and was received by us in good health," he said.
Contrary to the police theory, however, the chameleon is actually a European native, according to Christopher V. Anderson, assistant professor at the University of South Dakota and chameleon specialist group chair for the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission.
Anderson told DW the chameleon pictured is a young Mediterranean chameleon, found in southern Spain, southern Italy, Greece, Malta, and several other areas around the Mediterranean.
"For it to have shown up in a shipment of cauliflower from France, my suspicion would be that either the cauliflower itself was grown elsewhere within the range of the species and simply packaged or shipped from France, or that other produce that was from within the range of the species had gone through the facility and this animal hitch-hiked on one of these shipments," Anderson told DW.
The officers took the chameleon to a wildlife sanctuary in Klein Offenseth-Sparrieshoop.
The cabinet of reptile curiosities
There are currently about 11,500 known reptile species. The variety of shapes and colors knows no bounds. And they adapt perfectly to their habitat — whether in the desert, the rainforest, or by the sea.
Image: Frank Glaw/SNSB-ZSM/dpa/picture alliance
Tiny - but a big discovery
Brookesia nana is the name of the smallest known reptile in the world. It was discovered in January 2021. Its tiny length of 13.5 to 19 millimeters and brown coloration make it barely noticeable on the forest floor. The tiny chameleon lives in a remote northern part of Madagascar. So far, this mini reptile is a loner — no other specimen of its kind has yet been found.
Image: Frank Glaw/SNSB-ZSM/dpa/picture alliance
Perfect Camouflage
Spotted this mini lizard? With its green color, the small, grass-green day gecko barely stands out from the foliage. This genus has no eyelids. Over the course of evolution, the upper and lower eyelids have fused to form a transparent membrane. You're most likely to encounter the small animals on the islands of the Indian Ocean or Madagascar.
Image: picture alliance/WILDLIFE
Don't pet me!
The thorny devil lives up to its name: Its entire body is covered in thorns. The lizard only lives in Australia. It is perfectly adapted to life in the dry: The creases on its body transport rain and condensation water directly into its mouth.
Image: Fotolia/Daniel Seidel
I am bigger than you think!
That's what the frill-necked lizard (chlamydosaurus) tries to communicate when it erects its skin flaps on the neck, threatening predators or rivals. The ruff is up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) in diameter. Frill-necked lizards belong to agama family and live exclusively in Australia and New Guinea.
Image: picture alliance/Arco Images GmbH
A master of colors
Another representative from the species-rich Madagascar: Panther chameleons are among the most colorful of their kind. The color spectrum ranges from gray to green to pink and purple. Panther chameleons are known for their crest, which runs along the entire length of their back, ending in an extension of the nose.
Image: picture alliance/blickwinkel/C. Lundqvist
A mini-triceratops
Somewhat smaller than its dinosaur counterpart, Jackson's three-horned chameleon measures 38 centimeters (15 inches) in body length. Still, the males of this species are significantly larger than many of its relatives. Jackson's chameleon is native to the mountain rainforests of East Africa.
Image: picture alliance/Hippocampus Bildarchiv
An algae-diver on Galapagos
The marine iguana of the Galapagos Islands is a remarkable diver. It forages underwater for up to 30 minutes. During this time, its heartbeat slows to ten beats per minute. Its skin is usually dark so that it warms up as quickly as possible after swimming in cold water.
Image: picture alliance/blickwinkel/McPHOTO
Giant dragon
The largest living lizard weighs up to 70 kilograms (154 pounds)! Even deer and wild boar are not too big for the komodo dragon to hunt down as prey. Its secret weapon is its poisonous saliva, which reduces blood clotting and can lead to shock. The komodo dragon lives exclusively on the smaller islands of Indonesia.
Image: picture alliance / Eibner-Pressefoto
A lover of good vantage points
The green tree python likes to live with a view. It has a unique habit of wrapping itself around branches at heights of up to 25 meters (82 feet). Hidden like this, it lurks for potential prey. The striking green animals live in northern Australia and New Guinea.
Image: picture alliance/chromorange/I.Schulze
Small head - big effect
The common egg eater snake is an impressive example of how appearances can be deceiving. The skin around its jaw can be stretched to three to four times its original size. The snake, which is barely as thick as a thumb, can even swallow chicken eggs whole. Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, where the snake hunts for prey, need to watch out for them.
Image: public domain
Camouflaged turtle
At first glance, the appearance of this mata mata seems anything but intentional. But the skin flaps on the body are ingenious: Because of them, the turtle living in the fresh water of South America appears virtually invisible under water. Any chameleon would be green with envy!
Chameleons are mostly found in sub-Saharan Africa and on Madagascar. However, like the one found in Bilsen, there are species found in Southern Europe.
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According to Anderson, chameleons are heavily threatened across their range due to habitat degradation.
"While the Mediterranean chameleon is not threatened across its entire range, it is considered threatened in some of its individual range states (countries) due in large part to habitat degradation," he said.
French farmers grew 218,700 tons of cauliflower in 2021, according to industry publications, slightly down because of cold weather, some heat spikes and heavy rainfall. However, farmers enjoyed higher-than-average prices with the lower supply. Most of the world's cauliflower comes from China and India.
