Ian Wang stumbled across a recently-published species description of an unbelievable new Anolis species that may be a new ecomorph – the ground-ground anole!! You have to read it for youself!
Category: Anole Art, Literature, and Humor Page 7 of 11
For those of you who enjoy reading literature of the non-Anolis variety in your limited spare time, allow me to recommend the work of author and journalist Carl Hiaasen for a shot of anole-spiked satire. Hiaasen’s extensive fiction and non-fiction works (which are reminiscent of Edward Abbey and Christopher Moore, to name a few) have captured the elusive charm and absurdity of the people and wildlife of Florida, and should be required reading for anyone who has been or is thinking of traveling there.
Although none of Hiaasen’s novels have focused on anoles, they make frequent cameo appearances in his work. For example, in his most recent young adult novel “Chomp,” one of the precocious main characters, Tuna, “captured a brilliant green anole lizard and helped Wahoo memorize its scientific name, Anolis carolinensis, which was a mouthful.” In another book, “Nature Girl,” a frustrated private investigator follows a sleazy telemarketer and his girlfriend into the everglades, where they have been lured by the phony promise of a luxurious ecotour. The PI is intent on capturing evidence of the telemarketer’s infidelity, but instead captures extensive footage of A. carolinensis engaged in “adult” behaviors.
Apparently, Hiaasen’s interest in anoles extends beyond their supporting role in his fiction. At a recent Q&A session with publishers at Random House, Hiaasen drew gasps from the audience when he described noosing A. equestris in Coral Gables and prying their mouths off his bloodied fingers using a quarter, and later being knocked off a ladder when the same species leapt off an outdoor light fixture and onto his face, again drawing blood. Hiaasen also described a childhood and adolescence (still in progress, according to the 59-year-old author) spent chasing lizards and other herps with his friends, his children, and later his grandchildren. Clearly Hiaasen deserves the honorary title of “anolologist.”
Perhaps anoles will figure more prominently in his next book? Personally, I’ll be crossing my fingers until then.
Calling all German-speaking Anole Annals aficionados. Just what the heck does this say? Some Dutch speakers loosely translated this as an announcement of a new art exhibit on sex. Richtig? A German-to-English translation website helpfully translates this as: “Light signals, the correct reputation or Pushups? From a research group from the mountain wildlife shows the state museum of natural history in Stuttgart until May 2012 in the exhibition “sex.” It is also about phenomena such as infidelity or patchwork-families.”
Thanks to Susanne Renner for her eagle eye out for lizards in adverts.
The management here at Anole Annals feels responsible for putting up an appropriate, anole-themed Valentine Day’s post. Unfortunately, our normally reliable stable of incredibly talented and imaginative authors has not come up with the expected image of an anoline cupid, an anole starstruck with love, or some such, so we’re in a bit of a bind. It’s not too late, creative types–there’s still 5 valentine hours left here in North America!
However, in their absence, we thought a little googling would solve the problem. Typing in “anole love” found only one appropriate, G-rated image, and it came from…Anole Annals (below)! So we settled for the intriguing book cover above, which of course leads to the question: has anyone read this provocative romance novel?
read all about it here: https://www.anoleannals.org/2012/01/03/asymmetrical-dewlap-color-in-anolis-lineatus-on-curacao/
“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” Charles Darwin
More about Darwin day:
Stolen World: A Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers, and Skulduggery by Jennie Erin Smith is a page-turning historical account of the most notorious reptile smugglers in the United States. Many of the stories in Stolen World are derived from first-hand accounts provided by a core group of old-school smugglers, most notably Hank Molt and Tom Crutchfield. I was shocked at how open these folks were about their practices, particular given that some of them are still actively collecting, importing, and selling rare reptiles. Indeed, some of the book’s primary subjects now seem to regret their decision to share so much with Smith (I’ll return to this point later).
We’ve already posted on Anole, the world’s first gay comic book superhero (here and here). However, since that post, much more information has appeared on the internet, so it seemed time for an update.
I won’t review the particulars of his history because there’s now quite an extensive, wikipedia-style entry here. Rather, I think it’s worth discussing what super powers an anole-based superhero is endowed with. And I’ll cut straight to the chase: I think Marvel Comics kind of blew it.
So, here’s what Anole can do:
> Run slightly faster than a human (whoo! Impressive. Anyone remember Antman from Saturday Night Live?).
> Regrow severed limbs, salamander-style.
> Superhuman reflex speed–that one sounds right on.
> Alter skin color and appearance to blend in–this would make a good topic for a post–do anoles actually do this at all? Or, for that matter, do those renowned tricksters of the saurian world, chameleons, engage in such subterfuge?).
> Stick to and climb walls of any type, “a la Spiderman” according to the website (how about “a la anoles”?).
> Shoot his sticky-ended tongue out great distances–whoops, wrong lizard clade.
> Superhuman strength, but only in his right arm, which is regenerated.
Anole also has a number of interesting talents and interests, including that he is very good at hand-to-hand combat, enjoys theater, speaks French, and likes playing frisbee, basketball and pool.
Now, personally, these attributes don’t scream out “Anole” to me. So, I put it to you, Anole Annals readers–if you were going to create a superhero named Anole, gay, straight, bi, celibate or other, what attributes would he or she have? Perhaps we can petition Marvel to create another named Dactyloa or Chamaeleolis.
