Agamids' hind legs generally are long and powerful; and the lizards can run and leap swiftly when alarmed.

Males frequently threaten each other by nodding, weaving, and displaying their brightest colours to establish dominance.

The jaws are very powerful, and older males commonly have damaged tails as souvenirs of past combat.

Their incisor-like front teeth and powerful jaws are adapted to dealing with quite large, hard prey.

They also may eat eggs of other lizards, and sometimes feed on vegetable matter, such as suitable grass, berries, and seeds.

During courtship, and also when asserting his territory, the male bobs his head in display; this gives rise to some of the common names, such as Afrikaans koggelmander (literally, "little mocking man").

[7] Linnaeus may have taken the name "agama" from some unidentified source in the mistaken belief that the reptiles came from the Americas as indicated by Seba.