The oldest known chameleon fossil is from the extinct species Chamaeleo caroliquarti. It was found in Europe and is 26 million years old.
The word Brookesia is named after the British naturalist Joshua Brookes.
Some chameleons play dead to avoid predation; this is called thanatosis.
Chameleons have a very poor sense of smell.
Trioceros schubotzi can be found at elevations as high as 4500m.
The word Calumma comes from the Latin word for covering. This genus consists of chameleons from Madagascar with occipital lobes.
The word Rieppeleon is named after the scientist Olivier Rieppel.
There are currently 202 recognized chameleon species and 85 of them are found on the island of Madagascar.
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.
Trioceros goetzei (Goetze’s Chameleon) emits an audible, high pitched whistle when threatened.