Puerto Rican anole photographer extraordinaire, Father Alejandro Sanchez (you must see his webpage here) describes these photos of a female A. cuvieri: “In a karstic forest in north-western Puerto Rico, a female Puerto Rican giant anole (Anolis cuvieri) patrols its territory in search of prey. When doing so, members of this species usually move in a very deliberate way, reminiscent of chameleons to the point of moving their eyes independently as they scan the vegetation for food or danger. Anolis cuvieri is usually very tame, and this individual hardly paid any attention to my movements or the camera’s flash. After I finished shooting, the lizard allowed me to stroke its tail for a few moments before jumping out of reach.” He also noted that “I saw a couple of A. cristatellus make themselves scarce as this female A. cuvieri approched.”
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Hispanioland
Great photos! We never get that close to the giants here in DR. I bet they don’t chase them to death in PR. I’m curious to find out If they also have there the folk tale of the neck jumping – biters loaded with worms/maggots in mouth.
Alejandro
Thanks for the compliment. Most people here just leave them alone. And there are several superstitions on regards to them but that’s not one of them. I fact, I’ve never seen any individual with those maggots clinging to the roof of the mouth, which I’ve seen in some pictures of Hispaniolan giants.