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.
The largest chameleon species by weight is Calumma parsonii (Parson’s Chameleon).
Trioceros goetzei (Goetze’s Chameleon) emits an audible, high pitched whistle when threatened.
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.
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.
Trioceros schubotzi can be found at elevations as high as 4500m.
There are currently 202 recognized chameleon species and 85 of them are found on the island of Madagascar.
The word Calumma comes from the Latin word for covering. This genus consists of chameleons from Madagascar with occipital lobes.
Chameleons have a very poor sense of smell.