The word Furcifer is derived from the Latin word “furci” or forked.
The word Rieppeleon is named after the scientist Olivier Rieppel.
Chameleon fossils have been found in central Europe and China, indicating they were once much more widespread than they are now.
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!
Furcifer labordi (Labord’s Chameleon) has the shortest lifespan of only 4-5 months. It also has the shortest lifespan of any tetrapod!
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.
The word Rhampholeon is taken from the Latinized Greek “rhamphos leon” meaning crawling lion.
Chameleons do have taste buds on their tongue but overall they have a poor sense of taste.