Calumma parsonii is generally considered either the largest or second-largest species of chameleon. Furcifer oustaleti can get a little longer, but Calumma parsonii gets a little heavier.

We saw two individuals. The first, orangeish one is an adult female that our guide found in the middle of the forest. It was heading straight up a vine when we momentarily detained it for a few photos. The second, turquoise one is an adult male that was just off a trail. It's busy munching a grasshopper. The fourth photograph here was taken by my wife Monica Rua.

Here is a list of all the reptiles and frogs I saw on this 2007 trip to Madagascar.

On this night we found a few individuals of the world's largest chameleon for the first time on this trip. But so far, only young, small ones. I wonder whether we found bigger ones later?

Here is a list of all the reptiles and frogs I saw on this 2023 trip to Madagascar.

Bigger than any of the ones from yesterday, but still not all that big.

Our Madagascar guide Rainer Dolch took us to a small farm where he knew there was a healthy population of this species as well as Furcifer pardalis. When we arrived, a troop of villagers greeted us, then disappeared into the hedges and trees for a few minutes, then began bringing out chameleons, including a few monster full-sized Calumma parsonii parsonii.

Here is a list of all the reptiles and frogs I saw on this 2023 trip to Madagascar.

Here's a humongous male and female found near each other, close to the edge of the Pantagenes canal.

Emile Rajeriarison walked us to a small vanilla plantation that belongs to him and his wife. He knew there were a pair of Calumma parsonii somewhere around. He found the male quickly, but it took another ten or fifteen minutes for his wife to find the female.