Anolis grahami aquarum (male)
As I do like reading about field trips or merely observations from vacations where anoles have been spotted, I thought I would share my observations made in Jamaica.
Following the disastrous effects of the Hurricane season in 2025, I’d like to raise some awareness for this beautiful island.
In Mach 2024 I was fortunate to travel to Port Antonio, Jamaica for a 7 day field trip with anoles being the main target.
I was accompanied by three friends who share the same enthusiasm for these lizards.
Our goal was to see all seven species described for Jamaica. The first species was soon off our check list as we had a small toilet break in the middle of our trip from the airport in Montego Bay to Port Antonio: Anolis sagrei was found at a gas station. This introduced species needs to introduction, but we were eager to find the remaining 6 species.
Our hotel was located in the hills above Port Antonio and is famous for watching birds so we thought it might be also good for watching anoles. The hotel can only host around 10 people and a larger garden is surrounding the bungalows. Old trees have been kept, most other plants were introduced and many flowering plants have been planted.
Part of the garden
Vegetation on the grounds of the hotel
Our initial plan was to explore the nearby area but we left the area of the hotel only once. We were able to walk the garden by day and night, which proved to be perfect for 5 of the 6 endemic anole species.
Here is a short summary for each species:
Anolis garmani
This crown giant was one of our main goals. We thought it might be difficult to spot them and finding a few individuals was not really considered to be realistic.
As it turned out, it was one of the most abundant species we found. In the mornings we found freshly hatched youngsters in the understory of the garden. Semi adult and adult individuals were found throughout the day on the larger trees in the garden. Throughout our week we spotted around 20 adults plus 20+ youngsters inside the hotel perimeter–we caught a number of them to confirm they weren’t the similarly colored A. grahami aquarum.
Anolis garmani juvenile
The area was certainly sustaining this quite larger population.
Although finding them during the day was easy, we never saw one sleeping.
Anolis garmani (male)
Anolis lineatopus ahenobarbus