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The oldest known chameleon fossil is from the extinct species Chamaeleo caroliquarti. It was found in Europe and is 26 million years old.
True chameleons include the following genera: Archaius, Bradypodion, Brookesia, Calumma, Chamaeleo, Furcifer, Kinyongia, Nadzikambia, Palleon, Rhampholeon, Rieppeleon and Trioceros.
The word Rhampholeon is taken from the Latinized Greek “rhamphos leon” meaning crawling lion.
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.
The word Chamaeleo is derived via Latin from the Greek word khamaileon. It roughly translates to ground lion. Khamai means on the ground and leon means lion.
Some chameleons play dead to avoid predation; this is called thanatosis.
The chameleon tongue accelerates towards its target at over 1642m per second. Chameleons rarely miss their intended food item.
Chameleons can project their tongue up to 2.2 times their body length.
There are currently 202 recognized chameleon species and 85 of them are found on the island of Madagascar.
The largest chameleon species by weight is Calumma parsonii (Parson’s Chameleon).
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