The horns on a chameleon are made up of ringlike segments of inner bone covered by a hard keratin-like skin.
Chamaeleo namaquensis is found in the desert of Namibia. To cool off it will sometimes bury itself in the sand.
Furcifer labordi (Labord’s Chameleon) has the shortest lifespan of only 4-5 months. It also has the shortest lifespan of any tetrapod!
The word Rhampholeon is taken from the Latinized Greek “rhamphos leon” meaning crawling lion.
True chameleons include the following genera: Archaius, Bradypodion, Brookesia, Calumma, Chamaeleo, Furcifer, Kinyongia, Nadzikambia, Palleon, Rhampholeon, Rieppeleon and Trioceros.
Chameleons do have taste buds on their tongue but overall they have a poor sense of taste.
The largest chameleon species by weight is Calumma parsonii (Parson’s Chameleon).
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.
Trioceros schubotzi can be found at elevations as high as 4500m.
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!