The oldest known chameleon fossil is from the extinct species Chamaeleo caroliquarti. It was found in Europe and is 26 million years old.
The word Rieppeleon is named after the scientist Olivier Rieppel.
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!
Some chameleons play dead to avoid predation; this is called thanatosis.
The word Rhampholeon is taken from the Latinized Greek “rhamphos leon” meaning crawling lion.
The word Kinyongia is from the Swahili word for chameleons: Kinyonga.
The horns on a chameleon are made up of ringlike segments of inner bone covered by a hard keratin-like skin.
The chameleon tongue accelerates towards its target at over 1642m per second. Chameleons rarely miss their intended food item.
The word Bradypodion comes from the latin “bradus podos” or slow foot.
Chameleons can project their tongue up to 2.2 times their body length.