Year: 2011 Page 36 of 42

More Cuddling Anoles

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On March 10, 2011

In Notes from the Field

A female and male Anolis gemmosus, photo by Luke Mahler

Last summer in Mindo, Ecuador, we found several pairs of Anolis gemmosus sleeping in very close proximity to each other, but not overlapping like Kat observed with Anolis etheridgei (earlier post). The pairs were always facing the same direction and the pairs were made up of any combination of males and females.  To be fair, we also saw many sleeping alone, and the area was densely populated with A. gemmosus. Unfortunately, our dedicated pursuit of Anolis proboscis kept us from making detailed observations. Random coincidence or something more?

Chamaeleolis (False Chameleon) Captive Care

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On March 10, 2011

In Anoles in Commerce

Blinky, someone's pet false chameleon. Photo from http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/photo.php?id=17574

Who knew that false chameleons, as they are called (technically, anoles in the clade—formerly genus—Chamaeleolis), are so common in the reptile captive husbandry world? In Cuba, these animals are a rare treat, one of the hardest anoles to find. Many talented anole biologists have returned from Cuba empty-handed, with nary a Chamaeleolis spotting to report. One might think that a big, white lizard like this would be easy to spot, but they are very slow and shy, blending right into their environment.

Cuba strongly protects its native wildlife, but apparently some got out, reputedly to Europe. Turns out that they are easy to breed, and so now they are readily available. Not cheap, though—a quick google found false chameleons of several species for sale, but the standard price was in the $500 range.

In any case, should you have a hankering to go Chamaeleolis, there’s now a good resource for captive husbandry and care. Kelly Bradley of the Forth Worth Zoo has raised many a false chameleon in her day, and she’s now detailed how to do it in her recent tell all exposé in Reptiles magazine

Field Assistants Sought For Summer Anole Fieldwork in the Bahamas

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On March 9, 2011

In All Posts

Field Assistants (2-3) needed for field research on the behavior and ecology of the lizards Anolis sagrei and Leiocephalus carinatus on Great Abaco Island, Bahamas. The projects are part of a long-term study evaluating behavioral plasticity and its consequences on ecological and evolutionary processes. Assistants will be in charge of collecting focal observations and general ecological data. Duties include assisting in data collection, analyzing video recordings, habitat characterization, and data entry. Assistants must be flexible in their needs, comfortable living and working in close quarters, and able to work under hot and humid conditions. Assistants must enjoy watching and describing the behavior of animals for long periods of time, while working under relatively isolated conditions. Prior experience conducting fieldwork is desirable but not required. This can be a great opportunity for undergraduates with an interest in pursuing graduate studies in behavioral ecology or herpetology. An overview of the day-to-day activities related to this project can be found at

http://chipojolab.blogspot.com

Positions will run from 16 May to 13 June 2011. We offer a living stipend ($1,440/month), plus room & board and cost of transportation to the field-site. Field assistants will need to provide their own personal gear, including a backpack and life-jacket. Research will take place on relatively small islands, and short trips in a small boat are part of the daily activities. Email a cover letter, resume, and contact info for two (2) references to:

mleal@duke.edu

The review of applications will begin immediately.

Manuel Leal

Department of Biology

Duke University

Anoles Rule!

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On March 7, 2011

In New Research

In an unprecedented display of organismal superiority, an anole graces the cover of a major scientific publication for the third time in six months (the others may be seen here and here [editor’s note: see comment]).  The photo advertises an article on environmental niche modelling and biogeographic boundaries in two Hispaniolan anole species, which will be the subject of a forthcoming post. Incidentally, not that anyone’s counting, this makes two cover shots for Richard Glor and one for Luke Mahler.

Anolis Photo Presentation

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On March 7, 2011

In All Posts

Photo from http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=18556

Just back from a talk on primate color evolution. I was gratified to see that the opening slide of the talk included a picture of an anole—didn’t expect that in a monkey talk! However, the image used was the one above. Anole seminar aficionados know that this is a no-no—this image has been used in more talks than is humanly imaginable! The reason is simple: when you Google (or Google Image) Anolis, this image is one of the first couple that pop up. And it’s seemingly a nice picture, so people tend to use it. All the time. But look more closely. This guy is not the Adonnis of the anole world. Rather, his schnozz is very beat up. This fellow should not be the poster child for the anole world. I had always assumed that he was a captive animal, who had rubbed his snout raw against an aquarium wall, as often happens. However, the recent post on fighting A. carolinensis illustrates that perhaps this guy is a fighter, not a lover, and bears the scars of his battles. In any case, a word to the wise: use another anole photo in your presentations.

Green Anole Mayhem

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On March 6, 2011

In Natural History Observations

Florida green anoles appear so loving and peaceful. But perhaps the tranquility of Hawaii brings out the devil in them. Johanna Mercier was on vacation on Kauai with her husband and daughters when she snapped these photos on February 27th. She describes what happened: “These were taken in Kapa’a, Kauai at about 4:30pm.  They were on a hibiscus plant and I almost missed them, they blended in so well.  I watched them for almost half an hour and finally had to pull myself away to make dinner. NOT being sarcastic, they were fascinating!  They would flare out their dewlaps and bob at each other with their mouths open and then latch onto each other. They would stay in this lock for easily 5-10 minutes without moving. Then one would slip and fall; they’d climb back to each other and do it all again.”

More Mainland Bird Predation on Anoles

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On March 5, 2011

In Natural History Observations

Photo @Alexa Class.

Pictured here is a nestling ocellated antbird with an anole of some sort (A. lemurinus? humilis?) stuffed down its throat (photo taken at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica; event described in Ornitologia Neotropical, vol. 20, 2009). Alexa Class and Johel Chaves-Campos several times observed these birds take anoles from army ants. Johel also reported he has “seen bare-necked umbrellabirds grabbing Norops capito anoles from tree trunks covered with mosses at middle elevations (about 1000 m, Caribbean Slope) in Costa Rica.  I was truly impressed by how far away the bird was when it detected the lizard; at least 30 feet away in front of me.  Actually, I was watching it with binoculars. The lizard was perhaps 7-10 feet away from me, on my side, and the bird flew directly towards where the lizard was and took it in front of my face.  By the way, the lizard was so well camouflaged that I couldn’t see it until the bird took it.  Great vision!”

Do you want to cuddle? It makes me feel safe.

By

On March 4, 2011

In Notes from the Field

Is this really worth it? I was asking myself while trying to balance my weight on the slanted old tree which I had climbed, the mountain stream beneath me gurgling around glistening rocks in the humid night. I stretched out my left arm as far as possible while clinging onto the tree with my right, to snap a probably completely out-of-focus and missing-the-object-of-focus picture with my trusty waterproof Pentax. While pushing the releaser button, I noticed some parts of the old tree I was holding on to slowly giving away. A flash, a thump, and I found myself suddenly clinging to another part of the tree, while the green power diode of my camera now flickered at me from the bottom of the stream. Great, I thought, you’ve ruined your camera for a picture that won’t even have anything on it and wasn’t that great to begin with either. This is why I want to make it worth it now, a posteriori: worth a blog post. Examining the SD card later on it turned out, that there was indeed a motif on that picture, and even the one I had hoped to catch: Two male Anolis etheridgei sleeping together on a leaf (more like waking up on a leaf due to my intrusion), facing away from each other. What made this observation picture-worthy for me is that these weren’t the only specimens I found like that that night. At least five other pairs of male A. etheridgei were sleeping in the same position, touching each other’s tails. When I approached them, the one that would wake up first would make a jerking movement, then both would simultaneously drop from their sleeping site into the leaf litter. They were way harder to catch than many other sleeping anoles I’ve stalked at night. Four eyes are better than two, as the saying goes, and those little anoles seemed to have realized just that.

Cuddling for safety

Rest in peace, my trusty Pentax Optio WP.

Anole Documentary Short

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On March 3, 2011

In Anole Art, Literature, and Humor, Anoles and Anolologists in the News, Notes from the Field

Anolis carolinensis - the green anole

Who’s your neighbor? Check out this short documentary by biologist Neil Losin about Anolis research in Miami. It’s cool research and contains some great video and still footage of anoles! After the video, explore the rest of Losin and Nathan Dappen’s Day’s Edge Productions website. Day’s Edge Productions is a new production company that uses video and multimedia to communicate science to the public.

In Defense of Herpetology

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On March 2, 2011

In Anole Art, Literature, and Humor

From http://xkcd.com/

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