Chameleons do have taste buds on their tongue but overall they have a poor sense of taste.
Chameleon fossils have been found in central Europe and China, indicating they were once much more widespread than they are now.
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.
Chameleons have a very poor sense of smell.
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.
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 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.
True chameleons include the following genera: Archaius, Bradypodion, Brookesia, Calumma, Chamaeleo, Furcifer, Kinyongia, Nadzikambia, Palleon, Rhampholeon, Rieppeleon and Trioceros.