Imagine being notified that someone is at your door, only to find this friendly fellow on your doorbell!
This is the everyday experience for residents of a lush neighborhood in Tampa, Florida, that have had a rogue Allison’s anole colony pop up and spread across their houses and yards. Many residents love and cherish the beautiful anoles and have been happy to share them with me. So these pictures are the result of this summer’s visits to the colony. Enjoy these beautiful anoles and the stories that come with them!
Having heard about the location, I sent letters to all the homeowners in the area, requesting permission to study the colony. Many homeowners generously allowed me to wander their properties with gates kindly opened for me.
The male above is one of the alpha males near the epicenter. Around 70-80% of the males observed were on houses, instead of trees and bushes as normally expected from an arboreal anole.
The other alpha male of the epicenter is pictured below in the next three pictures.
His territory includes the lily plants where the first anole was spotted by the homeowner in 2017. This is clearly defined as the epicenter, since the rest of the surrounding homeowners said that they did not see the A. allisoni until a year or two later.
Here is his reaction to me getting too close and bothering him.
A female, pictured above warily watching me, is less dressed to impress and more to camouflage.
One of the most common ways for invasive anoles to spread is through the plant trade. Bromeliads, lilies, and other thick shrubs are imported from Cuba or other countries in the Caribbean with anole eggs unknowingly hidden in their leaves and trunks. When the plants arrive and are placed in a lush garden, or kept at a nursery, the eggs hatch and the anoles grow and being to reproduce, starting a new non-native population.
Pictured above is one of the many new arrivals to the colony this season. Eggs are laid from April-October and hatch from May-December.
A male, pictured below, whose territory does not include any houses, but a few trees and a fence, displays and then scurries away to hide in his tree.
Across the street, two anoles mate while clinging to the side of a house. You can see the drastic sexual dimorphism in this species in this picture, as well as the deep blue coloration that comes out in the males while mating or during territorial disputes.
The anoles seem to prefer properties on the block with houses that have rough stucco walls to cling to, for example the beautiful male below. Houses with smooth exterior siding are shunned by A. allisoni at this colony.
The male below is one of my personal favorites at the colony, a male with almost every color of the rainbow! I only saw him during one visit in July, and in my many visits since then, I have not once seen him. Did he leave to find a new territory? Or was he eaten by a predator? I hope to one day see him again.
Above, another alpha male surveys his territory from a branch, and after catching sight of me, decides to leap away and leave the scene.
Video linked below.
Video linked below.
And then he taunted me in his successful escape.
Another blue male and a female from his territory, a few feet away.
The colony’s active season is between March and September. Outside of these months, the males have subdued colors, remain brown most of the time, and hide in nooks and crannies of the exterior of the houses.
A young male watches me as I take his picture, above. It was a great experience to find one mid-transition from juvenile to adult and see the colors coming in nicely. Sadly, I have not seen this anole either since then.
A male on the northern outskirts of the colony displays from a tree.
A male with some vivid light blue coloration peeks over the top of a fence to spy on me.
This is an interesting observation. Note the markings on this male clinging upside down to the side of a fence. Was he grabbed by a bird or bitten by a rival male? The rounded imprint close to his legs seems to give away some kind of injury.
Just a year ago, I believed I would have to journey to Cuba to see these exotic creatures. Little did I know I would be spending the following summer with them without leaving home!
I will return to the colony March 2022 to continue my observations. Follow me on iNaturalist as well for more anole content!
If you’re interested in seeing more Florida Allison’s anoles, please visit my Instagram @dailyanole. Don’t forget to watch my video on this colony as well!
