“It was the best moment of my life.”
Martin Roland, a wildlife biologist, recently journeyed to a remote islet off the coast of Madagascar, Nosy Hara, for a bat conservation project. Yet, the creature he was most eager to encounter wasn’t a bat—it was the tiny chameleon known as Brookesia micra.
At the time of its discovery, B. micra was the smallest known chameleon species, measuring just under an inch in length. While a slightly smaller species was documented in 2021, B. micra remains one of the tiniest reptiles in the world.
These minuscule chameleons are found only on the two-square-mile island of Nosy Hara, making them a prime example of island dwarfism, a phenomenon where animals evolve smaller body sizes due to their restricted environments.
Roland knew this trip would be his one chance to spot a B. micra. However, given their diminutive size, he understood the challenge. Along with his research team, Roland spent days trekking the island’s rocky, dry landscape, meticulously searching the leaf litter and shrubs for any sign of the elusive reptiles.
“To find [them], we’d hike up and down a 3-kilometer trail and even go off-trail, staring at leaf litter and shrubs for hours. They’re so small, bugs are bigger,” Roland shared.
On the fifth and final day, Roland still hadn’t spotted a single B. micra. With time running out, the group spent the entire morning searching. At last, near the base of a tree, they finally found one.
“It was the best moment of my life,” Roland said. “I held him and just stared.”
Despite knowing B. micra were small, Roland wasn’t prepared for how delicate the chameleon would feel. “It was like holding a baby—you feel this pressure to make sure you don’t drop them. But he was so tiny, he tripped on the crease of my hand and did a little 360-degree roll,” Roland recalled.
Though he eventually had to part ways with the tiny chameleon, Roland will forever cherish the memory of meeting such a remarkable creature.