The word Brookesia is named after the British naturalist Joshua Brookes.
Pygmy chameleons (Brookesia, Palleon, Rhampholeon and Rieppeleon sp.) often resemble dry leaves, mosses and branches.
The word Calumma comes from the Latin word for covering. This genus consists of chameleons from Madagascar with occipital lobes.
There are currently 202 recognized chameleon species and 85 of them are found on the island of Madagascar.
Many chameleon species have a bright red, orange or yellow mouth. This conspicuous interior when displayed is used as a defense against predators.
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!
The largest chameleon species by weight is Calumma parsonii (Parson’s Chameleon).
The horns on a chameleon are made up of ringlike segments of inner bone covered by a hard keratin-like skin.
Trioceros schubotzi can be found at elevations as high as 4500m.
Chameleons have a very poor sense of smell.