50 Fun Facts About Chameleon

Roughly how many chameleon species had been described as of 2015?

That makes chameleons a modest family among the 7,000-plus lizard species, but an unusually distinctive one.

About half of all chameleon species are found only on which island?

Despite that, genetic work suggests the family arrived by two separate ocean crossings rather than evolving there.

Chameleons have been introduced to which two places outside their native range?

Florida alone now has six invasive chameleon species thanks to the pet trade, and hobbyists go out hunting for them to sell.

The chameleon's grasping tail is often nicknamed what?

Arboreal species use it as an extra anchor point while climbing; ground-dwelling species like the Namaqua chameleon have much shorter tails.

The Greek roots of the word 'chameleon' translate literally as what?

The Greek was itself a translation of the Akkadian 'nesh qaqqari', which means the same thing.

What are the specialised colour cells layered in chameleon skin called?

The stack runs from red-and-gold pigment cells at the surface, through crystal-filled iridophores, down to dark melanophores at the base.

Chameleon iridophores produce structural colour using nanocrystals of which substance?

The lizard changes the spacing of the crystal lattice, which changes which wavelengths are reflected: tight spacing gives blue, wider spacing shifts to warmer hues.

A resting chameleon looks green because reflected blue light passes through cells of what colour?

When the crystal spacing widens in an excited state, the reflected light can jump to yellow, orange or red.

Beyond camouflage, colour change in chameleons is most commonly used for what?

A darker skin absorbs more heat; a lighter one reflects it, so an ectotherm can nudge its body temperature without moving.

When displaying aggression to a rival, a chameleon tends to show what?

Submitting or 'giving up' goes the other way, with the loser darkening.

Bones in the skulls of most chameleon genera fluoresce with what colour under UV light?

The fluorescence comes from bone under very thin skin and may serve as a signal in shady forest.

Smith's dwarf chameleon adjusts its camouflage depending on what?

It shows different colours to a bird than to a snake, tuned to how each predator sees.

The oldest described chameleon fossil, Anqingosaurus brevicephalus, comes from which country?

It dates to the Middle Paleocene, around 59 to 62 million years ago, long before the family reached the island where it is now most diverse.

Studies suggest chameleons most likely originated where?

Two separate oceanic migrations then carried them across the Mozambique Channel, where they diversified.

What is the maximum recorded total length of the largest chameleon, the male Furcifer oustaleti?

At the other extreme, the smallest male nano-chameleon measures 22 millimetres, tail included.

How many toes does a chameleon have on each foot?

They are bundled into two tong-like groups of two and three, which is why the feet are loosely called zygodactyl.

A chameleon's upper and lower eyelids are joined, leaving only what for the pupil?

Each eye still pivots and focuses independently, giving a full 360-degree arc of vision.

Chameleons lack an outer and middle ear, but can still detect sounds in roughly which range?

That is a narrow band compared with the human 20 to 20,000 Hz; like snakes, they have no ear opening or eardrum at all.

Chameleons have the highest density of which cells in the retina of any vertebrate, relative to size?

That gives them the highest magnification for their size of any vertebrate; prey distance is judged with one eye, not two.

Besides visible light, chameleons can also see in what?

UV exposure makes captive chameleons more social and more inclined to bask, feed and breed, via its effect on the pineal gland.

A chameleon's tongue can reach its prey in as little as how long?

It launches at more than 41 g, powered by elastic recoil rather than muscle alone.

A chameleon's tongue is typically thought to be how long relative to its body (excluding tail)?

Smaller chameleons do relatively better, projecting their tongues more than twice their body length.

Because tongue projection relies on elastic recoil, chameleons can hunt effectively when?

Other lizards are still sluggish at low body temperatures, so chameleons get first pick of the insects.

What is the tubular muscle that powers a chameleon's tongue projection called?

It contracts around a rod of the hyoid bone called the entoglossal process; the hyoglossus is the retractor that pulls the tongue back.

Which list correctly names European countries where chameleons occur naturally?

Only one living species has a natural range that extends into Europe.

Which genus of pygmy chameleons lives low in vegetation or on the ground among leaf litter?

It includes the nano-chameleon Brookesia nana, one of the smallest reptiles ever found.

What is the main cause of declining chameleon numbers?

Many species have tiny ranges, so clearing a single patch of forest can threaten a whole species.

The eggs of Parson's chameleon typically take how long to hatch?

Most chameleon eggs hatch in four to twelve months; Parson's is exceptionally slow to do everything, including breed.

Large veiled chameleons have been known to lay clutches of up to how many eggs?

The tiniest pygmy species, by contrast, may lay only two to four.

Jackson's chameleon gives birth to live young; how does the mother deposit each one?

Each baby arrives inside a sticky transparent yolk-sac membrane, bursts out and climbs off to hunt; a female can produce up to 30 at once.

Wasps and mantises make up over three-quarters of the diet of which species?

Keepers are advised not to feed it only crickets; those should be no more than half its diet.

A captive veiled chameleon can eat how many large crickets a day?

It will also eat leaves when it cannot find water, an unusual habit for an insectivore.

Which invertebrates put especially heavy predation pressure on chameleon eggs and juveniles?

For adults, the main predators are birds and snakes; the chameleon's answer is to stay hidden and, if caught, flatten its body and gape.

Which country has been the main importer of pet chameleons since the early 1980s?

It accounted for 69% of African reptile exports, though captive breeding now supplies most American demand.

Hamlet's 'chameleon's dish' line refers to the belief that chameleons lived on what?

'I eat the air, promise-crammed,' he says, playing on an Elizabethan folk belief about the lizard's diet.

Which ancient writer describes chameleons in his History of Animals?

Pliny followed in the 1st century AD, noting in his Natural History their talent for camouflage.

The veiled chameleon is native to which part of the world?

It is also called the Yemen chameleon; hatchlings that get a fright drop to the ground and flush bright red.

The tall casque on a veiled chameleon's head has what practical function?

The species name calyptratus comes from the Greek for 'veil'.

The panther chameleon was first described in 1829 by which French naturalist?

Its colour forms are named 'locales' after the places they come from, and genetics hint it may really be several species.

The panther chameleon's genus name Furcifer comes from a Latin root meaning what?

It refers to the shape of the feet; the species name pardalis means 'leopard' or 'spotted like a panther'.

Jackson's chameleon is named after Frederick John Jackson, then the first governor of which country?

George Albert Boulenger described the species in 1896; the genus name Trioceros means 'three horns'.

How many horns does a male Jackson's chameleon carry on its head?

The genus name Trioceros comes from the Greek for 'three' and 'horns'; the species is native to East Africa and introduced to Hawaii.

How long, including tail, are adult males of the nano-chameleon described in 2021?

Females are a little bigger at 29 mm; the species lives on the forest floor of the Sorata massif in the island's far north.

Unlike most of its relatives, the nano-chameleon cannot do what?

That is considered an example of paedomorphism, keeping juvenile traits into adulthood.

Parson's chameleon is usually considered the world's largest chameleon by what measure?

Adult males typically weigh 500 to 700 grams; the Malagasy giant chameleon beats it on length.

The desert-dwelling Namaqua chameleon can drink through what?

Its hygroscopic scales pull moisture in by capillary action, a trick shared with the thorny devil and Texas horned lizard.

The Namaqua chameleon lives in the deserts of Namibia, South Africa and which other country?

On cool mornings it turns black to soak up heat, then goes pale grey by midday, sometimes showing both colours split down the spine.

What term describes a chameleon's feet, with toes fused into two opposing groups?

Other hallmarks include a prehensile tail, laterally compressed body and swaying gait.

How far east does the chameleon family's natural range extend across southern Asia?

The vast majority of species live in Africa, with just one in southern Europe.

In 2015, Frank Glaw placed only Brookesia and which other genus in the subfamily Brookesiinae?

All other genera went into Chamaeleoninae after years of debate over the family's subdivisions.