Happy New Year!
I know this year has been off to… a start.
A lot has happened, and while someone else would avoid “getting political” in their scicomm, I think we should acknowledge that science is political. Voting was only one step to making America better, and that was threatened by people who want to continue to perpetuate racism and white supremacy. We all saw what happened. There’s no way that anyone calling the people who stormed a government building during an election process are patriots. There’s so much work to do, more than reading a book or following more Black scientists on social media. While those are good, being anti-racist and standing up against people who would seek to uphold these structures are continuous processes. I hope this new year brings you renewed resolve to be allies.
Now. Here’s to a good anole to start the year with.
Anolis bartschi, also known as the Western Cliff anole and West Cuban anole, is beautiful and peculiar.
Found in the Pinar del Rio, the westernmost province of Cuba, this anole lives on karstic (a type of limestone topography) hills, equipped with long hindlimbs and toes that help it get around the terrain. It can be found on the rock faces, cliffs, rock piles and in crevices.
It is one of two (known) anoles that completely lack a dewlap, but it does inflate its throat as a display, along with the usual anole head bobs. They are also one of the few species with communal nests, with the females laying their eggs in crevices on the sides and walls of caves. Female Western Cliff anoles can get up to 6.4 cm long (SVL) and the males about 7.5cm. They are also one of the few anoles with blue colouring.
Checking another box for uncommon anole behaviour, Western Cliff anoles squeak (Rodríguez Schettino et al.,1999)! And they may hang from their forelimbs, and walk with their toes raised. An individual may eat smaller anoles than themselves.
Western Cliff anoles are considered at a low extinction risk.
Like many anoles, we are still learning about more this anole and I can’t wait to find out more.
Photos by Shea Lambert and Yasel Alfonso