They can be all-orange, all light brown, all-purple, all red with some green lines, and all green with brown stripes.

They rely on camouflage to catch their food with a long sticky tongue.

Their tail is prehensile like most other chameleons in the Furcifer genus.

It is only known from one holotype specimen from Betsako, east of Mahajanga.

Long considered conspecific with the rhinoceros chameleon (F. rhinoceratus), a 2018 study of minor details of its morphology indicated that it was a distinct species.