Photographer, Artist Illustrator, Tech Writer retired from the field of computer software development.
Ten days after this male anole proudly displayed from his perch he was observed in a more violent struggle to maintain his territory with a different challenger, all while a female observes from a lofty distance. Link to slide show of complete sequence:
In the link below, select the Download or Print button to download a 12 page illustrated children’s book (pre-K to early Elem.) titled: Anoles by Day and Geckos at Night in PDF format. The book is iPad compatible if loaded into your iBooks library under the PDF option. I welcome your professional feedback on content and urge you to share the story with young friends and family members.
Anoles by Day and Geckos at Night is a work in progress as I am attempting to animate the critters, add interactive elements and publish an eBook.
Two male Anole lizards pose and posture in a mock fight display. One individual is distinguished by the regrowth of his tail lost in some previous incident. In this incident, no physical contact seemed to have occurred, but biting and locking of jaws in actual combat has been observed between males of this species. These still photos do not convey the rapid change of posture, circling and feinting of attacks. Finally in the last photo the lizard with the regrown tail is seen alone in a victory pose with legs fully extended and tail held straight off the ground. It should also be noted that while I photographed at no time did I observe either male display its dewlap. This may have occurred in a prelude to their face-off on this urban sidewalk arena.
As I photographed an A. carolinensis displaying high on a tree trunk, an A. sagrei popped out about 5 feet below and countered with a display. Before he could advance on the green anole male above, another male A. sagrei advanced to challenge. The two A. sagrei got in each other’s faces, but did not actually lock in combat. Suddenly the first A. sagrei broke off and advanced up the tree to confront the male green anole. There was a lot of counter displaying but not as fierce as just performed by the two brown anoles. Eventually the green male retreated further up the trunk, stopped to display once before disappearing around the other side.
I have extensively photographed Anole in an urban environment because they are so readily available here in south Florida literally outside my door and frequently indoors too. Despite the lamentations of displacement of the native Anolis carolinensis, they are frequently observed in my immediate area. I will present a few photos showing confrontations between the variety of West Indian Anole and the native green. Knight anole is also present, mostly juvenile as I do not observe fully grown specimens either because of adult movement to other areas or the wide variety of predators, mostly large birds. More about geckoes, basilisks and iguana will be posted in related forums.
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