The word Brookesia is named after the British naturalist Joshua Brookes.
Some chameleons play dead to avoid predation; this is called thanatosis.
The word Furcifer is derived from the Latin word “furci” or forked.
Pygmy chameleons have bicuspid claws where each claw has two points like a crescent moon.
The word Calumma comes from the Latin word for covering. This genus consists of chameleons from Madagascar with occipital lobes.
The horns on a chameleon are made up of ringlike segments of inner bone covered by a hard keratin-like skin.
Many chameleon species have a bright red, orange or yellow mouth. This conspicuous interior when displayed is used as a defense against predators.
The oldest known chameleon fossil is from the extinct species Chamaeleo caroliquarti. It was found in Europe and is 26 million years old.
The smallest chameleon species is Brookesia micra with an adult length just over 1 inch (29mm). It hatches from an egg no bigger than a grain of rice!
Chameleons change color by rearranging a lattice of nanocrystals in one of their top layers of skin cells called iridophores. Chameleons can then stretch this layer, broadening the nanocrystalline lattice, thereby causing it to reflect a different wavelength of light.