One involves a particularly fecund reptile rescued from the pavements of central Cairo and the other the release of three rare falcons back into the wild, after they had been found in the possession of a Gulf Arab detained along the Suez Canal.

The reptile is an African Chameleon. Chameleons are utterly distinctive lizards in that their toes are fused such that they grasp as two digits rather than four, and their eyes move entirely independently so that one can be looking forward while the other back.

They are also renowned for their ability to change color, match habitat and surroundings absolutely. However, it is much more complex than that.

Chameleons change color not just according to their surroundings but also in accordance to mood — threat, anger and whatever other emotions chameleons go through — temperature, sexual readiness or indeed not. The color of a chameleon is an intricate and complex tapestry of animal behavior.

The chameleon of this piece was rescued from the street in Zamalek, and I was contacted because the rescuer, with much foresight and understanding, wanted to know whether said chameleon was a native species.

If so, it could be released back into the wild in a suitable habitat within its range — the ideal scenario. Based on pictures sent to me, I was able to identify it as an African Chameleon (Chamaeleo africanus), a native Egyptian species from the Nile Delta and Valley.

It is distinguished from Egypt’s only other chameleon, the Common Chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon) of the Northern Coast and North Sinai by its larger size and less expansive head adornments.

In the words of the scientists, the African lacks an occipital flap and the Common has flaps.

Identified, said lizard was released into a suitable habitat within her natural range, but not before she had performed an equally natural feat. As cyberspace buzzed about her Egyptian-ness, the lady of the moment proceeded to lay 40-plus near spherical white-shelled eggs.

These eggs are now in a sand incubator and, hopefully, a whole new generation of African Chameleons will be released back into suitable African Chameleon habitat, namely orchards, gardens, dense shrub and reeds.

For those who might worry that the hatchlings will not get any parental care, fear not. Having laid her eggs, the mother’s biological obligations are fulfilled. As with many reptile species, with the notable exception of certain crocodilians, there is no parental care.

The color of the Zamalek chameleon was a much darker brown than the individual shown here, which I have illustrated in subdued greens and browns, just as I have experienced it elsewhere.

The darkness of the rescued reptile may have been due to her gravid condition or to the stress of her ordeal. That stress is now relieved, and she should be going into a cold weather torpor in her new natural habitat.

And so to the falcons. In late November, a Qatari was reportedly detained along the Suez Canal with three Saker Falcons, a species protected not only by Egyptian law but by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Bonn Convention on migratory species, to both of which Egypt is a signatory.

The Saker Falcon is one of the world’s largest falcons, only slightly smaller than the extralimital Gyrfalcon and around the same size as the Peregrine, a winter visitor to Egypt.

It is one of the key species targeted by the Gulf Arab’s hunger for falconer’s birds, which fuels an illegal trade in wild-caught falcons trapped in Egypt each spring and fall.

The Saker is impressive. It is broad winged for a falcon, 50 centimeters or so in length (as with many birds of prey the female is on average larger than the male), tawny brown above and pale below, streaked (not barred) darker.

The similar but smaller Lanner Falcon, a more common and widespread species in Egypt, is slate to gray above with a more strongly patterned head, but the juvenile closely resembles a small adult Saker.

Many congratulations and kudos go to the rangers of the Zaranik Protected Area, and especially to Ranger Bassim Rabea for apprehending the falconer and arranging the release of the birds.

They should now be ensconced in wintering grounds in Ethiopia, the Gulf States and southwest Asia. By coincidence, I am currently working on a review of Birds of Pakistan by Richard Grimmett, Tom Roberts and Tim Inskipp. They note that the Saker Falcon there is “now almost extirpated, being most highly prized in [the] falconry trade.”

It is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered.

And falconry is a source of major concern. It was not just the fact that the Qatari hunter was caught here with three illegal birds of prey; it is the prey itself that is a major source of concern.

The likely target in North Sinai was probably the Macqueen’s Bustard, now very rare in Egypt and elsewhere.

Formerly lumped with the Houbara Bustard of much of Northern Africa, though everywhere much depleted, Macqueen’s Bustard is the size of a large duck but longer-legged and necked, pale beige to sandy throughout with a prominent black streak running from the eye down the neck to the belly.

It has been relentlessly hunted in the Gulf at least in part for its supposed aphrodisiac qualities, and the Gulf hunters, having all but wiped out their own populations, have been turning to the east and west in recent decades for their quarry.

Birds of Pakistan notes that there too it “has been heavily persecuted by Arab hunting parties since the 1960s” and is “rare and declining.” It is classified by the IUCN as vulnerable and by BirdLife International as globally threatened. In Egypt it is now very rare.

And so to the elections. It is not normally for a naturalist to comment on politics, but I have marveled at the plethora of parties and candidates and bewildering number of signs and symbols representing this plethora.

Voters could elect a food blender, a tank, a washing machine, a shirt, a chair or any other of many uninspiring and mundane, if functional, household objects.

I cannot help but feel it is a missed opportunity. Free and fair elections could have been combined with an awareness and education campaign about the Red Sea reefs. We have a myriad fish species rendered instantly recognizable by bold patterns and dazzling colors — a campaigners dream.

The food blender could have been a flamboyant Emperor Angelfish in loud stripes of citron and azure (though the reference of Emperor does not smack of modern democracy).

The tank could have been an Exquisite Butterflyfish, the shirt a vivid Orchid Dottyback. The Salafis could have had the Bearded Scorpionfish and Amr Moussa could adopt the Moses Sole as his own.

Those still besmirched by the discredited NDP might hide behind the Greasy Grouper or after reinvention the Mimic Blenny. Campaigning would be more colorful and everyone would know a bit more of this country’s extraordinary natural heritage. et