Trioceros schubotzi can be found at elevations as high as 4500m.
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.
Furcifer labordi (Labord’s Chameleon) has the shortest lifespan of only 4-5 months. It also has the shortest lifespan of any tetrapod!
Some chameleons play dead to avoid predation; this is called thanatosis.
The word Kinyongia is from the Swahili word for chameleons: Kinyonga.
The word Brookesia is named after the British naturalist Joshua Brookes.
The word Rhampholeon is taken from the Latinized Greek “rhamphos leon” meaning crawling lion.
Chamaeleo namaquensis is found in the desert of Namibia. To cool off it will sometimes bury itself in the sand.
The word Calumma comes from the Latin word for covering. This genus consists of chameleons from Madagascar with occipital lobes.
Chameleons change color by rearranging a lattice of nanocrystals in one of their top layers of skin cells called iridophores. Chameleons can then stretch this layer, broadening the nanocrystalline lattice, thereby causing it to reflect a different wavelength of light.