Chameleons don't live in streams. He could have met Jake on a branch though, because the Jackson's Chameleon is found on five of our main islands. They are found in O'ahu, Maui, Hawai'i, Kaua'i, and Lana'i.

A pet store owner on O'ahu brought some in from Africa in 1972. He let them loose in his backyard, and they became a free ranging population. The chameleons spread so fast because they didn't have their normal predators like snakes and big birds, like they had in Africa.

People started catching them and selling them to the pet stores on the mainland. Since 1984, most of the chameleons sold in the U.S. came from Hawai'i. Then, in 1989, the State of Hawai'i made it against the law to take the chameleons into or out of Hawai'i.

They eat many kinds of insects and other small invertebrates. They eat our native birds' food, and eat the insects that pollinate our native plants. They are cute, but they are an alien pest.

 

 

 Go on to Piko, the O'opu