Previous posts and associated comments have discussed Scoliodentosaurophobia (here and here) and its prevalence in some anole-rich regions of the Caribbean. I’ve noticed similar attitudes in the US Southeast. In fact, a woman in South Carolina once begged me to kill all the “bugs” (juvenile A. carolinensis) in her bedroom because they disgusted her so much. One interesting way to counter this aversion may be through a public celebration and discussion of lizards. Yaihara Fortis Santiago did just this in an article recently published in El Nuevo Dia, which highlights the well-known lizards of Puerto Rico. Although the article focuses mainly on Sphaerodactylus and Saul Nava’s plans to replicate a recent experiment conducted by Duke’s Manuel Leal, you will notice that the featured photograph is not of a sphaero at all … it’s an anole! Still the world’s most beloved lizard.
Anyone else with links to articles about anoles published in their country of origin?
- Bahamian Lizards Reduce the Amplitude of Their Headbobs in the Presence of Predators - May 21, 2014
- Fear of Lizards Revisited - February 7, 2012
- Anoles Taking Over the Minds of Our Youth - January 31, 2012
Martha Munoz
In the Dominican Republic you’ll hear a lot about the saltacocote (ie: crown-giants like A. baleatus), which the locals say will jump out of trees and bite you on the neck, giving you a nasty infection. Although that behavior is unlike anything I know about crown-giants, they can have nasty stuff in their mouths: https://www.anoleannals.org/2011/01/20/yuck-maggots-in-the-mouth/
Jean-Michel D
Here’s a recent good one from my neck of the woods:
http://dominicanewsonline.com/news/all-news/general/pointe-michel-residents-complain-of-lizard-infestation-not-a-crisis-forestry-officials-say/
Anyone working on these?
Great article in El Nuevo Dia! However, despite the anole picture, the article is about sphaerodactylus geckos on Puerto Rico and sphaeros are hardly “well-known”.
Jonathan Losos
very entertaining comments in the article from Dominica that Jean-Michel posted. Including the first instance I’ve ever heard of someone cooking anoles, which reportedly were quite tasty. And a nice audio interview with an official from Dominica.