The chameleon tongue accelerates towards its target at over 1642m per second. Chameleons rarely miss their intended food item.
Kinyongia uthmoelleri and Trioceros quadricornis gracilor have red claws.
Chameleons do have taste buds on their tongue but overall they have a poor sense of taste.
The word Rhampholeon is taken from the Latinized Greek “rhamphos leon” meaning crawling lion.
Furcifer labordi (Labord’s Chameleon) has the shortest lifespan of only 4-5 months. It also has the shortest lifespan of any tetrapod!
Chameleons have acrodont teeth meaning they are an extension of the jawbone. They are not set in sockets nor are they replaced.
Some chameleons play dead to avoid predation; this is called thanatosis.
Chamaeleo namaquensis is found in the desert of Namibia. To cool off it will sometimes bury itself in the sand.
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!
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.