The word Brookesia is named after the British naturalist Joshua Brookes.
Some chameleons play dead to avoid predation; this is called thanatosis.
Trioceros schubotzi can be found at elevations as high as 4500m.
Chameleons do have taste buds on their tongue but overall they have a poor sense of taste.
Chameleons do not have external ears or a tympanic membrane, but they do have internal ears as well as degenerated middle ears. They do not hear well but they can detect low frequency sounds.
Chameleons can project their tongue up to 2.2 times their body length.
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.
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.
The word Rhampholeon is taken from the Latinized Greek “rhamphos leon” meaning crawling lion.