Veiled chameleon
Amazing fact
When it senses danger, the veiled chameleon inflates its body, changes color, opens its mouth and makes a sound.
札幌市円山動物園
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
When it senses danger, the veiled chameleon inflates its body, changes color, opens its mouth and makes a sound.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Veiled chameleon
- Scientific name
- Chamaeleo calyptratus
- Japanese name
- エボシカメレオン
- Group
- Amphibians and reptiles
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Chamaeleonidae
- Genus
- Chamaeleo
A chameleon of the southwestern Arabian Peninsula. It lives high up in trees or lower down in bushes near the ground.
It has a helmet-like crest on top of its head. Adult males have a bigger body and a bigger crest than females.
It catches insects by shooting out its sticky tongue. Unusually for a chameleon, it also eats leaves and fruit.
How the Veiled chameleon lives
It also uses its tongue to sense smells and tastes. In the dry season, it gets water by eating leaves. It usually lives alone. The female lays her eggs underground.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web札幌市円山動物園Basic data
- Size
- Total length: about 60 cm
- Lifespan
- about 5 years in the wild, about 5 years in captivity
- Diet
- Insects, arthropods, leaves and fruit
- Range
- Southwestern Arabian Peninsula
Where the Veiled chameleon has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- エボシカメレオン
- 简体中文
- 盔甲避役
- 繁體中文
- 高冠變色龍
- 한국어
- 베일드카멜레온
- Español
- Camaleón velado
- Français
- Caméléon casqué
- Deutsch
- Jemenchamäleon
- Português (Brasil)
- Camaleão-do-iêmen
- Italiano
- Camaleonte velato
- العربية
- حرباء محجبة
- Tiếng Việt
- Tắc kè hoa đeo mạng
- Русский
- Йеменский хамелеон
- Türkçe
- Peçeli Bukalemun
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 札幌市円山動物園 — エボシカメレオンChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Chamaeleo calyptratusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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