Year: 2012 Page 44 of 47

Previous contributors have discussed the use of Anolis as an educational tool at the K-12 level (see here and here). But what happens when teachers don’t take anoles to the students? The answer is quite simple: the kids bring the anoles to them! Alex C., a sixth grader who recently graduated from my brother’s fifth grade class in PA, just passed along a “Discovery Quest” presentation that he created for fun (and to learn, of course). The topic: Green Anoles! I think it’s safe to say that our favorite lizards have so effectively permeated mainstream culture that the recruitment of anole biologists should prove an easy task from here on out. We look forward to having you in the field in about a decade, Alex C. (and all you other future anole experts)!

Anyone else with stories of anole addictions beginning at a young age? These can be auto-biographical or about those you know!

Why Don’t Lizards Jump Off Branches Like People Jump Off Diving Boards?

By Jonathan Losos

On January 31, 2012

In New Research

Many arboreal animals get from one place to another by jumping. But there’s a problem: branches, particularly narrow ones, aren’t stiff. As a result, as the animal starts to jump by pushing against the branch, the branch gives way and bends. As a result, some of the force that could be used to push off is dissipated in pushing the branch away. One potential solution would be to avoid bend-y branches; another would to make like an Olympic high diver and wait for the branch to spring back, and then use the recoil to help launch the animal forward. Do animals use any of these tricks? Or is their jumping compromised on pliable surfaces?

Turns out that there hasn’t been much work on this, but the research that has been conducted, on birds and primates, has showed that jumping performance is, indeed, reduced on flexible surfaces and that there is no evidence for animals powering off a branch’s recoil. No work has been conducted on small animals, so Casey Gilman set out to remedy this shortcoming by examining the jump biology of the Florida green anole. You can read here about the background to her study and see some photos of the study site.

The main findings of the study can be summarized easily: 1. In the wild, green anoles frequently use very compliant (bend-y) surfaces such as narrow branches and leaves; 2. In the lab, when anoles jump, they do not use the recoil of the support to increase their jump distance; and 3. The more flexible the support, the great the reduction in jump distance.

The most exciting finding of the study, however, was something completely unexpected. The reason that lizard jumps were short from very flexible supports was not just that the support’s give wasted some of the lizard’s push. Rather, what happened was that as the support recoiled, it smacked into the underside of the tail of the launching lizard. This in turn pushes the back end of the lizard up and the front end down, and instead of sailing through the air with the greatest of ease, the lizard does an ungainly face plant, as the video above illustrates. Apparently, this happened frequently when lizards jump off of very pliant surfaces.

Who knew? It certainly makes sense, but I have to say, I’ve never seen a lizard gobsmacked by a branch as it jumps. Maybe it happens too fast to actually recognize what’s happened, but I don’t recall seeing lizards jump in such a klutzy manner. Has anyone noticed something like this in the wild?

More generally, an obvious next step is to not only measure the pliancy of the perches on which lizards can be found, but to observe their movements and see if they choose to jump from particularly stiff surfaces, relative to the ones they use more generally. Word on the street is that Gilman has already conducted just such a study, with fascinating results. Stay tuned!

Anole, Gay Superhero

By Jonathan Losos

On January 30, 2012

In Anole Art, Literature, and Humor

We’ve already posted on Anole, the world’s first gay comic book superhero (here and here). However, since that post, much more information has appeared on the internet, so it seemed time for an update.

I won’t review the particulars of his history because there’s now quite an extensive, wikipedia-style entry here. Rather, I think it’s worth discussing what super powers an anole-based superhero is endowed with. And I’ll cut straight to the chase: I think Marvel Comics kind of blew it.

So, here’s what Anole can do:

> Run slightly faster than a human (whoo! Impressive. Anyone remember Antman from Saturday Night Live?).

> Regrow severed limbs, salamander-style.

> Superhuman reflex speed–that one sounds right on.

> Alter skin color and appearance to blend in–this would make a good topic for a post–do anoles actually do this at all? Or, for that matter, do those renowned tricksters of the saurian world, chameleons, engage in such subterfuge?).

> Stick to and climb walls of any type, “a la Spiderman” according to the website (how about “a la anoles”?).

> Shoot his sticky-ended tongue out great distances–whoops, wrong lizard clade.

> Superhuman strength, but only in his right arm, which is regenerated.

Anole also has a number of interesting talents and interests, including that he is very good at hand-to-hand combat, enjoys theater, speaks French, and likes playing frisbee, basketball and pool.

Now, personally, these attributes don’t scream out “Anole” to me. So, I put it to you, Anole Annals readers–if you were going to create a superhero named Anole, gay, straight, bi, celibate or other, what attributes would he or she have? Perhaps we can petition Marvel to create another named Dactyloa or Chamaeleolis.

The Contrary Anole of Bonaire

By Jonathan Losos

On January 28, 2012

In Natural History Observations

Non-alphabetically arranged, the ABC islands lie in a row 20-50 miles north of Venezuela with Curaçao sitting in between Aruba 50 miles to the west and Bonaire 30 to the east. Like many small Caribbean islands, each of the islands harbors but a single species of anole. Previous posts have discussed the inhabitant of Aruba and Curaçao, Anolis lineatus. Bonaire’s anole, however, is a beast of an entirely different stripe.

Anolis bonairensis. Photo by Jonathan Losos

What is curious is not the fact that a small island, not too far from other islands, has its own endemic species. Such anole species occur routinely in the Caribbean, such as A. lividus on Montserrat, A. nubilus on redonda, and A. sabanus on Saba. Rather, the oddity of A. bonairensis is its evolutionary heritage.

How Big Are Hatchling Crown Giant Anoles?

By Jonathan Losos

On January 27, 2012

In Natural History Observations

Young knight anole. Photo from http://www.repticzone.com/forums/Anoles/messages/2236899.html

There’s not a lot in the literature on the size of hatchling anoles, especially the giants, and such toddlers are not well-represented in museum collections. The photos here, easily gleaned from the web, indicate that newborn knight anoles are substantially larger than hatchlings of smaller species. What about other anoles? Does anyone out there know how the size of hatchlings of other large anole species? And how big are the eggs? Pictures, anyone?

Fresh out of the egg. Photo from http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/RandeMchance/Anolisequestris1dayold.jpg

Adventures in Stamp Land

By Jonathan Losos

On January 26, 2012

In Anoles in Commerce

Several days ago, I challenged Anole Annals readers to identify the three problems with this stamp, issued by Grenada and other nearby islands in their “Reptiles of the Caribbean” series… The answers were creative and insightful, and identified some issues that I had missed. And readers even picked up on one problem I thought would elude them. So what are the problems to which I referred?

The photograph is of a male Anolis grahami.

Problem #1: A. grahami is from Jamaica. Why is it on a stamp from Grenada? This was the gimme.

Problem #2: This individual actually was from Bermuda, where A. grahami was introduced in 1905. Bermuda, of course, is not in the Caribbean. This was the tough one that no one realized.

Problem #3: This is my photograph, used without my permission! Don’t believe me? Here’s the unabridged version, which appears on Todd Jackman’s Anolis webpage, which Todd speculates, probably correctly, is where the Grenadians got it:

I can assure you that I never granted permission for its use, and until I stumbled across it on the internet, I was unaware that it had been planted on a $6 stamp (royalties—ka-ching!). Does anyone know a good intellectual property rights lawyer with offices in the Lesser Antilles?

It turns out, however, that kerfuffles with anoles and postage stamps are not unheard of. Here’s another, brought to my attention by Uwe Bartelt, rumored to be the world’s leading anole philatelist.

Winner of Photo Contest and Big Discount on Anolis Calendar

By Jonathan Losos

On January 24, 2012

In All Posts

First, congratulations to Ramon E. Martínez-Grimaldo for his overwhelming electoral majority in the Anole Photo Contest. His prize will soon be winging its way southward.

Second, the good people at zazzle.com have permitted us to drop the price of the 2012 Anole Calendar by 30%. Get ’em while supplies last! Go to http://www.zazzle.com/anoles_2012_calendar-158860158425229228 and use the coupon code ALLCALENDARS.

How are these two points related, you might wonder? The answer is easy. We will be having a contest for photos to include in the 2013 Anole Calendar with a nifty prize. So start snapping those pix and fire up Photoshop–the contest will come around before you know it!

Asymmetrical Dewlaps Redux: the Anoles of Aruba

By Jonathan Losos

On January 23, 2012

In Natural History Observations

Anolis lineatus from Curaçao

Several previous posts have discussed the odd case of Anolis lineatus on Curaçao, whose dewlap differs from one side to the other. Rand and Rand reported this in 1967, but the observation was pretty much forgotten until earlier this year, when Matt Brandley and compatriots confirmed the Rands’ claim. Shortly thereafter, Melissa Losos and I travelled to Curaçao as well and observed the same phenomenon, allaying concerns that the Brandley team was covering for the Rands.

But since these posts, many AA readers have no doubt been sleepless at night, pondering the obvious question: what about A. lineatus on Aruba? Do they, too, have mismatched throat fans? Indeed, one could imagine a scenario in which they might not. Asymmetry is a common result of low levels of genetic variation (although there is a lot of quibbling about this in the literature). Curaçao is downstream in an ocean current sense from Aruba. Thus, it could be that the Curaçao population of A. lineatus was founded by one or few Arubians, and thus the resulting founder effect gave rise to the dewlap discordance.

An exciting hypothesis that I am pleased to immediately quash:

Can You Name Three Things Wrong With This?

By Jonathan Losos

On January 21, 2012

In All Posts

For reasons I can’t recall, I stumbled across this stamp on the internet. There are three things wrong with this. What are they? Ok, one of them is more an oddity than a problem, and that’s a pretty easy one. But I bet no one can come up with either of the other two.

Lizards in a Bottle

By Thomas Sanger

On January 20, 2012

In Research Methods

Anole Annals posts are constantly pushing the technological limits of herpetological research, from exciting new uses for vacuum cleaners to new caging systems (here and here) to novel methods of visualizing the anole skeleton (here and here). Thanks to Kim Orrell (Shenandoah University) I learned of a new technique of shipping small anoles that may hold promise for the future.

A common challenge I often face is finding best way to ship small anoles, often hatchlings or juveniles, to collaborating labs. While hatchlings are often hardier than they look, they do require some extra protection from getting bumped around so I don’t like using bags. Most Tupperware containers are simply too big and can, at times, be difficult to get the small lizards in and out of. The package I received today used an ingenious method of packing small lizards in recycled plastic water bottles. Each bottle was loosely packed with paper towels with one or two lizards added. The bottles have a relatively small foot print and little space between bottles when packed tight. Each bottle cap had two small holes drilled for air exchange. Removing the lizards was surprisingly easy. I simply pulled each paper towel out using forceps and gently tapped each bottle until the lizard slid out the hole, usually in two to three taps. While working with these bottles today I could not help but to also think that I was on the verge of the next great Sobe ad!