Category: Anole Art, Literature, and Humor Page 4 of 11

Anole masks. Note: The dewlaps looked a lot pinker under natural light!

Organisms that colonize a new landmass are often faced with strange environments and selection pressures. Biologists are no exception. Having quasi-recently emigrated to England, I can tell you that, from a North American perspective, the UK can be pretty strange. One of the novelties, along with saying ‘Ta’ and not heating buildings, is the ‘fancy dress’ party. If you’re American or Canadian, then ‘fancy dress’ probably conjures images of black tie, tails and sherry (Downton Abbey anyone?). But no. ‘Fancy Dress’ is when otherwise regular people don ridiculous costumes and drink a lot (wait, that does sound like Downton Abbey). The reasons behind this custom (the dressing up, not the drinking) are unknown to me. Maybe it’s because there’s no Halloween and thus no annual outlet for looking like an idiot?

Anyway, the point is that this year, our departmental party’s theme was Noah’s Ark. Of course, this left us with only one option. If the world’s going to flood, then we’d better be sure there’s a pair of anoles on board. After all, think of the opportunity for radiation when the waters recede. All it took was a little duct tape, papier-mâché, paint, an artistic spouse and voila, Anolis masks! Of course, I can’t believe that I’m the only one who has ever attempted an anole costume – anyone else have any pics to share of their efforts?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuqhUd6vHcA&list=PL7929B6ECB1A26675&index=1&feature=plpp_video

This fabulous video documents the evolutionary diversity of anoles and Eleutherodactylus frogs on Cuba. All of your favorites are here: swimming vermiculatus, chipojos (Chamaeleolis), a diversity of dewlapping delights (mestrei! allogus!), even a brief glimpse of a bartschi. The Irish-accented narration is quite good–and set to a lovely soundtrack–explaining in mostly accurate terms how anoles and frogs colonized and diversified in Cuba. Hats off to producer Tom Greenhalgh!

Astute AA readers may remember that we featured another video on Cuban anoles recently, as well as the splendid work in Miami by Day’s Edge Production. Sounds like it’s time for an anole film festival (a la the insect video contest just reported in the New York Times)!  Plenty of islands still available for you aspiring documentarians.

Get it today–framed prints, greetings cards, what a great holiday gift!

Another entry into the ever-expanding genre of anole literature. Check out snippets of the book. Amazon.com describes the book thusly: “From the moment of his hatching, in a flowerpot high above the ground, Oliver Anole saw the world as a game and an adventure. His spirit of play and love of creating spreads through the anole world, as just by being himself, he is able to inspire others to be inventive and create the lives they enjoy. I wrote Oliver the Overachiever to encourage children to celebrate their individuality and sense of community. I wanted to illustrate, through story and pictures, that a small person can create great effects that can change his world for the better.” And as for the author, “Karin Mesa has worked for the past nineteen years as a designer of decorative glass. She lives on the west coast of Florida with her husband, glass artist, Julian Mesa. Their studio, located in a one acre garden, provides the inspiration of nature that Karin has always used for her illustrations. Throughout her life observing nature has been fuel for Karin s imagination. Jagged tree stumps in a snowy winter became elven castles. Tree frogs nestled among orchid roots whisper of their cozy hidden homes throughout a garden world. Small lives, out of sight to many, are brought to life in water color and pencil. Karin s stories about these small creatures can be applied to their own lives by children, in ways that are real to them as individuals. Karin has stated her purpose in writing and illustrating like this: I hope that in a light and playful way my stories and pictures will encourage children to develop their creativity and sense of adventure. I want them to know the power they have to change things for the better.”

What baby wouldn’t love this?

We all know that geckos want to be anoles. But I fear I have unearthed a plot by an unidentified group of gecko-groupies to elevate the lowly gecko in the eyes of the public by forcing innocent anoles to masquerade themselves as (gasp) Madagascan day geckos. It all began several weeks ago, under the guise of a day trip to London to take in a little-known sporting event involving heroic UK demi-gods and demi-goddesses versus some other people (or so the BBC told me). Late in the day, we found ourselves wandering one of our favourite London haunts – the Natural History Museum. The mission: a gift for our soon-to-be-born niece (and where else would you go to find a gift for a newborn other than a natural history museum gift shop?). In the book section, I found a potentially better option: My First Book of Reptiles and Amphibians. It looked perfect – what baby wouldn’t love to be lulled to sleep by a full page close-up of a mouse disappearing down a viper’s throat or tidbits of information like “An adder’s bite is rarely fatal. It can cause mild swelling, and is very painful, but it is unlikely to kill you.” Imagine what herpetological feats said child would achieve later in life!

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In a comment on a previous post on anole olympians, Kevin de Queiroz dug into the archives to pull out this vintage Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue photo from 1980, featuring an Anolis cristatellus, as well as some woman in the foreground. Can you find that anole? Incidentally, it’s from the 1980 SI swimsuit issue, which you can access on their website; Christie Brinkley was on the cover and the photos were taken in the British Virgin Islands.