The word Rhampholeon is taken from the Latinized Greek “rhamphos leon” meaning crawling lion.
The word Calumma comes from the Latin word for covering. This genus consists of chameleons from Madagascar with occipital lobes.
The word Furcifer is derived from the Latin word “furci” or forked.
The process of shedding is called ecdysis.
Chameleons have a very poor sense of smell.
Chameleons can project their tongue up to 2.2 times their body length.
Chameleons have a high midichlorian count.
True chameleons include the following genera: Archaius, Bradypodion, Brookesia, Calumma, Chamaeleo, Furcifer, Kinyongia, Nadzikambia, Palleon, Rhampholeon, Rieppeleon and Trioceros.
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.
The word Kinyongia is from the Swahili word for chameleons: Kinyonga.