The word Rhampholeon is taken from the Latinized Greek “rhamphos leon” meaning crawling lion.
The oldest known chameleon fossil is from the extinct species Chamaeleo caroliquarti. It was found in Europe and is 26 million years old.
Chameleons have laterally compressed bodies. This enables them to warm up quickly by presenting a larger surface area to the sun. It also helps some chameleon species blend in among the similarly shaped leaves in their environment.
Furcifer labordi (Labord’s Chameleon) has the shortest lifespan of only 4-5 months. It also has the shortest lifespan of any tetrapod!
The horns on a chameleon are made up of ringlike segments of inner bone covered by a hard keratin-like skin.
The largest chameleon species by weight is Calumma parsonii (Parson’s Chameleon).
The word Bradypodion comes from the latin “bradus podos” or slow foot.
Chamaeleo namaquensis is found in the desert of Namibia. To cool off it will sometimes bury itself in the sand.
Trioceros goetzei (Goetze’s Chameleon) emits an audible, high pitched whistle when threatened.
Some chameleons play dead to avoid predation; this is called thanatosis.