The word Rieppeleon is named after the scientist Olivier Rieppel.
The word Furcifer is derived from the Latin word “furci” or forked.
The word Calumma comes from the Latin word for covering. This genus consists of chameleons from Madagascar with occipital lobes.
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.
The horns on a chameleon are made up of ringlike segments of inner bone covered by a hard keratin-like skin.
The oldest known chameleon fossil is from the extinct species Chamaeleo caroliquarti. It was found in Europe and is 26 million years old.
Chamaeleo namaquensis is found in the desert of Namibia. To cool off it will sometimes bury itself in the sand.
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 Kinyongia is from the Swahili word for chameleons: Kinyonga.