Author: Melissa Aja
Uwe Bartelt has done it again! The world’s greatest anoli-philatelist, Uwe showcased a portion of his collection a few months. Here he updates us with some of his latest postal anoles, all purchased this year from eBay.
Uwe Bartelt of Germany clearly enjoys the distinction of being the world’s greatest collector of anole postage stamps. Presented below are the highlights of his collection. Who knew there were so many anole stamps? What a wondrous exhibition! Click on each stamp to get a close-up view. More info below.
Uwe says this about his collection:
Frigid temperatures in Boston are making me long for the warm waters of Vieques, PR and the time I was there in October. Truth be told, I work for Jonathan Losos in a mostly administrative role, but even that has turned me into an avid lizard hunter when on vacation in the tropics. I even set a goal for myself – to find and photograph all three species of anoles on the island – except for the one no one has seen in almost 100 years. I trusted that if several professionals have not been able to find A. roosevelti, than my chances were slim (although, I did keep my eyes out for large lizards falling out of trees, just in case). To my absolute delight, the other three species, A. cristatellus, A. pulchellus, and A. stratulus could all be seen running around the manicured garden that surrounded the house I was staying in. We named one “King” and watched him move from palm tree to palm tree, displaying to the other anoles in the vicinity. (I’ve observed many anoles in Ecuador, but had never seen an anole move its tail back and forth before as a display – adorable!)
I watched a spirited courtship between a male and female A. pulchellus in ferns, and spent far too much time trying to get a shot of A. stratulus – particularly one that could always be seen on the wall of the pool house, but would promptly run through the door when I pulled out my camera.
There was even an A. stratulus running around without a front hand. He seemed to move about just fine, though, both through the house and around the vegetation outside. I was proud of my non-biologist friend that worried about him missing “so many sticky toes”. Also entertaining was a fight between two juveniles – unfortunately shot with my cheap telephoto lens, so the quality is poor, but it’s still entertaining: video
Looking forward to a week in the Bahamas in May – another vacation, but I’m sure it too will be filled with anoles.
a juvenile Anolis orcesi, in the afternoon of an all-day recording
They wake up, but hit the snooze button before they really get moving. They poop, grab something to eat, and then check out the neighborhood. They take wrong turns, and have to turn around when they reach a dead end. Young boys try to impress each other with their dewlaps. They take naps in the afternoon, and yawn throughout the day. They even sleep in the same bed, most nights.
As Jonathan Losos hinted at in an earlier post, we observed 4 Anolis orcesi individuals from dawn to dusk (12 hours!), and several more individuals for 1 to 6 hours, in the vicinity of Baeza, Ecuador. More to come after several months of video analysis!
Phenacosaurus orcesi, Ecuador
Here is a shot recently taken during our first “Day in the Life of a Phenacosaur” video recording. We tracked this subadult male from 6 am to 6 pm!
from Michele Johnson:
Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to join one of my colleagues, mammalogist David Ribble, in the data collection for a vertebrate biodiversity survey he’s working on at Bamberger Ranch in Johnson City, Texas. (Incidentally, David is a grad school pal of Jonathan Losos – it’s always a small world.) We trapped rodents, checked pitfall traps, lifted cover boards, and jumped out of the truck when we saw snakes in the road. This was my first experience trapping mammals, and I was impressed by the many similarities, and the important differences, between field studies of rodents and anoles.
This is not an anole. It’s a Peromyscus pectoralis from Bamberger Ranch, with a fresh ear tag.
The similarities:
1. When you grab an animal, it pees on you.
2. If you don’t hold on tight, the animal gets away. (The perils of working with students…)
3. If you don’t hold on right, you get bitten.
4. When you catch males, you confirm the sex by everting the penes.
5. Tails can come off – oops!
6. We all pose our specimens in unnatural positions. (Mice get a “Superman flying” pose; anoles a “mid-jumping jack” pose.)
7. Field work is better with beer.
The differences:
1. You can lure mice into little traps using food. It would be awfully convenient if anoles fell for such a trick.
2. If an anole bites your finger, you can blow on its face until it lets go. If a mouse bites your finger, you bleed all over everything.
3. Male mice only have one penis, poor guys.
4. If takes way more work to make a mouse specimen than an anole specimen – you have to skin it, stuff it, and pin it. I prefer fixation with nasty chemicals.
Assuming my lists are exhaustive, it’s clear that the study of anoles has more similarities than differences with the study of their amniotic brethren. Still, I think I’ll stick with anoles.
PS – For those of you wondering, the rodents we trapped were Sigmodon hispidus (cotton rat) and Peromyscus pectoralis (white-ankled mouse), and the herps we caught were Sceloporus undulatus, Acris crepitans blanchardi, and Thamnophis proximus. It was very cold that weekend.
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?
My parents have Anolis carolinensis living in their mums. This picture was taken in the spring, but they’re still in her potted plants in November, just cold and hunkered down.