Weird Urban Perches

There is quite a bit of evidence that anoles like to display from relatively high perches (e.g. references in this paper), a tendency that seems to cross over to their Old World counterparts, the agamids (e.g. Sitana ponticeriana, as outlined here). The hypothesized reason for this choice is that displaying from high perches enables lizards to be maximally visible to conspecifics, ensuring that broadcast displays are heeded by the neighbours. This summer, my field assistant Divyaraj Shah spotted a Calotes versicolor in Kutch, India, displaying from the most exposed perch I’ve ever seen a lizard on. See if you can spot it below:

Spot the displaying Calotes versicolor

Here it is (it’s moved a little from the previous photo):

This male, in his breeding colours, would walk out onto the sunny, exposed part of the horizontal metal beam and headbob for a while before returning to the shade. He repeated this behaviour several times in the few minutes we watched him. Note how the electricity pole is substantially higher than any of the natural perches in the habitat, raising the incredibly interesting question of how the use of artificial perches has the potential to alter social interactions.

So what is the most impressive or surprising location you have seen a lizard perch at or display from? My next favourite is this Anolis carolinensis in Miami on a glass lamp: