Carolinensis-Sagrei Interactions And A Blog Featuring Anoles

Karen Cusick, author of Lizards on the Fence, writes Daffodil’s Photo Blog, on which she daily chronicles in photographs the nature goings-on in her backyard. And these goings on often feature green and brown anoles, which go about their business and interact with each other on her back fence. Included are some lovely shots of displaying, eating, fighting, and more. Worth a look.

The post from a week ago Friday, August 24th, reports an encounter between a female A. carolinensis and a small A. sagrei. We’ve had a number of previous posts on AA about carolinensis-sagrei interactions and I think it’s still an open question how often the two species are actively aggressive to each other. In this light, Karen’s observations were interesting, and she has provided some photos. Here’s her report:

A female A. carolinensis ran across a fence section and encountered an A. sagrei.

They eyed each other for a minute or two, and then the A. carolinensis began moving down the fence post past the A. sagrei. The A. sagrei moved its head toward the A. carolinensisand possibly bit at its leg–I totally missed seeing this happen at the time and was surprised when I looked at the photos afterward.

The A. carolinensis turned and jumped back up on the fence, and the A. sagrei jumped over onto a white post. They both bobbed their heads and flashed dewlaps.

After a couple of minutes, the A. sagrei turned away and ran about half-way down the white post. The A. carolinensis ran down the fence to the ground, over to the white post, and up the post toward the A. sagrei. There was more head bobbing and dewlap displays. Again, the A. sagrei backed off, leaping onto a nearby rake and then onto a different post. The A. carolinensis chased after the A. sagrei, jumping onto the rake handle. This time the A. carolinensis did push-ups in addition to the dewlap display. They stayed in this position for at least 5 minutes before the A. carolinensis moved off toward the fence and the A. sagrei ran away in a different direction.

This is the first time I’ve seen anything like this. I’ll be watching for more interactions.

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Jonathan Losos

Professor of Biology and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in Saint Louis. I've spent my entire professional career studying anoles and have discovered that the more I learn about anoles, the more I realize I don't know.

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