Anole Annals

Photo by Janson Jones

Look at this poor fellow. Over on Phostracks, Janson Jones describes him and his demeanor thusly:

“Still, the most compelling characteristic of this anole was its passiveness. It wasn’t dead. Far from it, actually. The anole actively watched me, tracking me with its eyes. Still, when I rolled the lizard on its back, it just laid there like a puppy wanting a belly rub. Except for two or three miserable feeble attempts at escape, this anole was entirely passive (and clearly in need of a good dinner). It was just worn the hell out and in dire need of a vacation.

I placed the anole on the side of an unpopulated tree trunk to see if it could or would hang on (see image bottom left; image is rotated 90 degrees). No problem. It did just fine. It even moved around a bit. Then, when I started creeping back close again, nothing. It just sat there. Passive.

So, to quote Diondre Cole, “What’s up with that?” Any ideas? Any opinions? Any speculations?”

For more photos and entertaining description, check out the full post.

Anolis punctatus Mating and Feeding

By Jon Suh

On April 15, 2015

In Anole Videos, Natural History Observations

Now for another story from the rainforests of eastern Ecuador. While I was passing through camp on my way to lunch at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, I stumbled across this pair of Anolis punctatus mating only about five and a half feet above the ground on a small tree. I don’t know when they began, but they disbanded about five minutes after I found them. I probably had something to do with this as the male displayed immediately after separating from the female which you can see below.

Interestingly, the male seems to have a piece of debris stuck in his eye, which he eventually flicks out of his eye at the 40 second mark after mating. Another interesting note is that I spotted the same female (identified by dorsal spot patterning) in the same tree one day earlier where it was perched much higher on a thin branch covered with leaves.

Before I could contemplate what misstep I took in my life that brought me to sit and record the act of two lizards copulating on video, I was preoccupied with watching what this pair would do next. The male split after two hours when he was disturbed by a passing scientist. Prior to disappearing into the canopy he displayed a few times and ate an unidentified insect.

Post-coital "Anolis punctatus" female

A photoshoot took place after the act. The piece of debris is still visible on the male’s face.

The female stuck around longer and quite low to the ground the entire time. After a few hours she started foraging by perching on Heliconia stems, running into a small patch of leaf litter to retrieve an insect and then returning to another stalk to eat her meal and then stake out the next. I can’t make out what arthropods she was eating, but notice how she gives a few slight head motions throughout (notably at 0:42 and 1:09). This may have been a motion to aid in swallowing food, but I’ve also seen the same female and one other perform this movement outside of the foraging contexts which leads me to believe it’s a headbob.

Thanks for watching!

The World’s Most Beautiful Anole? Anolis equestris potior

By Jonathan Losos

On April 14, 2015

In All Posts

We’ve had posts on this spectacular anole before. Jesus Reina Carvajal reports: “During the last three years, I have been lucky to see them every single time I have visited the area but they are really hard to find. I find them in the wild on Cayo Santa María. They live exclusively on that island. Nowhere else in the world.

They eat insects, other lizards and small birds. They have a powerful bite. This last individual I could follow during hours since I saw it early in the morning and I could make many pictures and films until it left the place. That day I felt very happy!”

More of Jesus’s photos can be seen in the Flickr album he created.

Photo by Jesus Reina Carvajal

Brown Anole Eats a Fish!

By Ambika Kamath

On April 12, 2015

In All Posts

This post is by Holly Brown, a grad student at UConn studying the visual ecology of wading birds.

The piscivorous brown anole

I spent the day filming herons at the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center, in Key Largo, FL. While changing positions to get a better view of interesting foraging behaviors of a juvenile Little Blue Heron and a Snowy Egret — head-tilting and foot-raking, respectively — I noticed a mad dash on the ground, ahead of the path I walked. I looked down, and a little anole had scrambled from the shoreline over to take cover in some mangrove roots, which were protruding out of the mud. I didn’t think much of this at first. I continued to walk along the shoreline, to follow a foraging white morph Great Blue Heron. I began to walk back toward the territory of the little anole, and noticed, yet again, a mad dash at ground level, from the shoreline into the mangrove roots. Thinking it might be odd to see an anole at the water’s edge I tried to find the well-camouflaged lizard amidst the vegetation. What I found was a lizard the size of an anole, but with a seemingly large, round head. Upon further examination, I realized that it was two heads–one anole head and one fish head! The anole had caught a minnow, and the poor little minnow’s head was sticking out of its mouth…gills still flapping and all.

I study herons because I am interested in how vision-based predators compensate for visual challenges, such as glare or refraction, while hunting across the air-water interface. I may need to start studying anoles as well!

Mangrove Twig Anoles

By Graham Reynolds

On April 10, 2015

In Classics from the Literature, Notes from the Field

Anolis angusticeps, South Bimini, Bahamas

One component of our recent field work in Bimini, Bahamas involved gathering data from anoles across various habitat types. We selected four primary habitats for sampling based partly on the notable work by Schoener (1968): blackland forest; incipient blackland; Coccothrinax coastal scrub; and mixed Avicennia, Laguncularia, and Rhizophora mangrove forest.

Mangrove forest nocturnal survey.

South Bimini is an interesting place to study anoles in that it is a relatively small island harboring four species across at least eight different habitat types. Schoener’s excellent study of habitat use in these species indicated that mangrove forests were marginal habitat for anoles, supporting only two of the four species (A. sagrei and A. smaragdinus). During nocturnal surveys, we located both of these species roosting on Avicennia and Laguncularia leaves and branches, though in much lower numbers than other forest types. We found no anoles in Rhizophora mangle at our study site. However, we did find a number of A. angusticeps in this forest, mostly perching horizontally on Avicennia branches. We would like to know, how many others have found twig anoles in mangrove forest?

Anolis equestris: Miami’s Favorite Cannibal

By Winter Beckles

On April 9, 2015

In Anole Photographs

Anolis equestris with a smaller Anolis equestris in its jaws.

An Anolis equestris captures a smaller A. equestris in South Miami.

Cannibalism in Anolis equestris is nothing new, but that doesn’t make it any less surprising to witness! On a morning stroll in South Miami this past weekend, I noticed a flash of green movement on a tree. Upon closer inspection I realized there was a medium-large A. equestris with a smaller A. equestris wedged between its jaws. I hurried to snap a few photos with my wife’s phone, and while they aren’t Neal Losin-caliber (ha ha), I still wanted to share them with my favorite anole community!

Once I got too close, the A. equestris decided it was time to take its meal higher up the tree. An unsuspecting A. distichus saw the approaching A. equestris and began to dewlap enthusiastically. You can see the A. distichus near the top of the last photo. Enjoy!

Grey-Dewlapped Crested Anole

By Jonathan Losos

On April 8, 2015

In All Posts

Stroud and Beckles published this photo of a crested anole with a half-grey dewlap in the December 2014 issue of Herpetological Review. Cresteds dewlaps are usually orange or yellow–this is very unusual.

This is reminiscent of the famous gray-dewlapped A. carolinensis as well as this odd crested anole found by Neil Losin.

What’s up with these wacky anoles?

Anolis proboscis in National Geographic

By Jonathan Losos

On April 6, 2015

In All Posts

Congratulations to our friends at Tropical Herping for their photo in this month’s National Geographic.

Great Isaac Cay

By Graham Reynolds

On April 4, 2015

In All Posts

Approach to Great Isaac Cay. Note the Casuarina forest. Photo by Kristin Winchell.

Great Isaac Cay, NE of the Bimini group, Bahamas. Image from Google Earth 2015.

As Kristin mentioned in a previous post, we recently visited some of the Bimini islands in search of data on Anolis sagrei ordinatus. Through a stroke of luck, we were able to visit remote Great Isaac Cay for an afternoon of herping, hoping to find some anoles there.

Great Isaac is a small weathered carbonate formation, rising perhaps 15m above the extreme northwestern corner of the shallow Great Bahama Bank. The island was more or less continuously inhabited for about a century by a lighthouse-keeper staff, and hence the native fauna could have been drastically affected. The island is frequently visited by boaters who come ashore to explore the ruins, as well as Bahamian commercial fisherman (note the boat in the right of the photo) who use the structures for shelter. The island now has a well developed Casuarina forest, with a deep (50-150cm) litter of Casuarina twigs.

The author surveying the Casuarina forest on Great Isaac. Photo by Kristin Winchell.

We spent about six person-hours around 1500h on Great Isaac- plenty of time to cover the entire island. We surveyed for reptiles by lifting and replacing loose rocks, as well as checking around and under vegetation and within abandoned structures. We failed to turn up a single anole, though we did find two species of reptiles. We encountered quite a few Sphaerodactylus nigropunctatus flavicauda under rocks in the Casuarina forest, and only two Ameiva auberi richmondi in open areas around the abandoned lighthouse.

Surveying the west end of Great Isaac Cay. Photo by Kristin Winchell.

Sphaerodactylus nigropunctatus flavicauda, female. Great Isaac Cay.

As far as we can tell there are no island lists of the herpetofauna for Great Isaac, indeed we did not even include the island in our recent list of Bahamian herpetofauna (available here). The island is at least listed in the original version of this work, yet without any records. So, has anyone else come across herpetofaunal records for Great Isaac Cay?

Bark Anole Battle Scars in Miami, FL

By James T. Stroud

On April 3, 2015

In Introduced Anoles, Natural History Observations, Notes from the Field

As it starts to heat up here in Miami, anole interactions are at the highest while males try to stake their claim for the most attractive territories in town. Earlier during an afternoon stroll around South Miami I came across this bark anole (Anolis distichus) that looks like it’s had a pretty rough time recently!

I assume this injury to his nape is probably from another lizard, likely another male A. distichus, incurred during a territorial dispute, and not a predation attempt. Either way, it looks like it didn’t dent his confidence too much!