The word Kinyongia is from the Swahili word for chameleons: Kinyonga.
The word Bradypodion comes from the latin “bradus podos” or slow foot.
The horns on a chameleon are made up of ringlike segments of inner bone covered by a hard keratin-like skin.
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!
The word Rhampholeon is taken from the Latinized Greek “rhamphos leon” meaning crawling lion.
Pygmy chameleons have bicuspid claws where each claw has two points like a crescent moon.
The largest chameleon species by weight is Calumma parsonii (Parson’s Chameleon).
The word Brookesia is named after the British naturalist Joshua Brookes.
Chameleons can project their tongue up to 2.2 times their body length.
True chameleons include the following genera: Archaius, Bradypodion, Brookesia, Calumma, Chamaeleo, Furcifer, Kinyongia, Nadzikambia, Palleon, Rhampholeon, Rieppeleon and Trioceros.