Woo-hoo! Check out these anole beauties. And the green one actually has a red dewlap and looks passably like Anolis carolinensis. Google “plush anole” or “glitter anole” and you can have your own–for as little as eight buckaroos.
But there’s a backstory. Over the years, two undergraduates who worked in my lab each gave me a plush anole as a thank you present when they graduated. One day I was talking on the phone and idly picked up one of the stuffed fellows. Still attached to it was the information tag. And as I opened the tag, which contained natural history information, reasonably accurate, on A. carolinensis, I was amazed to see this:
No doubt, you can see one cause of my amazement. That’s no Carolina green anole, but rather its ecomorphic döppelgánger from Hispaniola, A. chlorocyanus. And, moreover, that’s not just any photo of a Hispaniolan green–that’s my photo! And, as you might have guessed, used without permission.
Incensed, I looked to the bottom of the tag for the company that makes the toy, Fiesta Toys. I looked them up online and went to their contact page. I filled in the little box on the page, noting that they had used my intellectual property without my permission. I pushed “send,” figuring I’d never get any response, much less satisfaction.
Bag o’ plush anoles
Imagine my surprise, the very next morning, to find an email from the company’s president in my inbox, falling all over himself to apologize. Although nothing was explicit, it was clear that he was worried that I would sue for a bazillion dollars, and wondered what could be done to make it right. So, I asked for, and received, 50 plush green anoles (I don’t think they had the glitter line back then), and one each of many of their other fine products (one of which, an opossum, hangs from a pipe in our lab corridor).
I also pointed out to the prez that there are many different anole species, differing in dewlap and body color and offering a real opportunity for brand diversification. You see where I’m headed with this: a new Fiesta Toys line of plush ecomorphs, perhaps with a bonus Chamaeleolis! I humbly offered to serve as their product development consultant. I’m sure they’ll get back to me shortly on it.
Actually, now that I reflect on it, maybe the glitter anoles are their effort to grab the anole adaptive radiation market. Looks like time for another letter.
Photo added May 19, 2013, for reasons explained in comments:
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Kevin de Queiroz
Are you sure that’s your photo, JBL? I think it’s mine. The notes on my identical slide indicate that the specimen was collected by you and that the photo was taken at UC Berkeley. Normally, if the photo had been taken by you, I would have noted that on the slide. I suspect that I took the photo, had a copy made for myself, and gave you the original (I would have been less inclined to keep the original for myself if I took the photo for you). I also have a vague recollection of a photo session (1989) in which I took photos of several anoles that you had recently collected in the Republica Dominicana.
Jonathan Losos
Whoops! Busted. I have no notes one way or the other on the slide, so accept your explanation as most likely correct. I think I’ve been using that photo so long I internalized it as my own…even though I credited KDQ for it when I used it in my Bioscience paper in 2007. Sorry, Kevin. Looks like I owe you some plush toys.
Kevin de Queiroz
That’s exactly what I was hoping you would offer as compensation! : )
Jonathan Losos
Editor’s Note: the photo added to the post indicates that Kevin has received his due.
Cailin
I know i’m a bit late but where do I buy the orange and pink one?