Ambanja Chameleons
Ambanja males are turquoise to green with red or blue bars, a yellow corner to the mouth and a nose that juts further than most. Females and juveniles look like any other panther, and neighbouring populations have been sold under the name, so buy a young animal on its parents.
About Ambanja
Named for the town of Ambanja in north-west Madagascar, Ambanja is a panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis) locale. A locale is a wild population named for where it came from, so calling an animal Ambanja is a statement about its ancestry. The males are known for red or blue bars on a green to blue body.
Appearance
The body of an adult male is turquoise-blue to green and features wide bars of red or blue across the flanks. These bars are rarely one flat colour because turquoise or aqua scales are mixed into the red, and red or orange often reaches onto the head. Two more cues are found on the head. Yellow is shown at the corner of the mouth by most animals, and the nose (the rostral process) is longer and sticks out further than on most locales.
Lines in captivity selected for purple and deep blue are sold as blurple or blue Ambanja. These look a long way from wild animals.
Regardless of their locale, females stay pink, peach, brown or tan. They turn dark with red or orange markings when unreceptive or gravid, so you cannot tell a female's locale by eye. Juveniles of every locale look much alike until a male colours up. This means the name of a young animal rests on its parents.
Genetics
Ambanja is a locale with no inheritance mode, no super form and no het. A line remains Ambanja only if every animal within it is Ambanja. If another locale enters, the line becomes a locale cross and cannot be unmixed. Females show no locale colour, so an undeclared cross can slip into a line sold as pure. Breeders keep locales apart for that reason and state any mix when they sell.
The name has been stretched as well. Animals from Ankify and Ambato have been imported and bred as Ambanja, although rivers and mangroves cut these neighbouring populations off from the Ambanja mainland. Ask the seller for both parents and how far back the line's locale is recorded.