The word Rieppeleon is named after the scientist Olivier Rieppel.
The chameleon tongue accelerates towards its target at over 1642m per second. Chameleons rarely miss their intended food item.
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 oldest known chameleon fossil is from the extinct species Chamaeleo caroliquarti. It was found in Europe and is 26 million years old.
Furcifer oustaleti (Oustalet’s Chameleon) is the longest chameleon species reaching lengths of 27 inches (68cm).
The word Brookesia is named after the British naturalist Joshua Brookes.
Chameleon fossils have been found in central Europe and China, indicating they were once much more widespread than they are now.
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.
Trioceros schubotzi can be found at elevations as high as 4500m.