Category: All Posts Page 153 of 154

Photo from http://www.petworldshop.com/

We’ve had a number of posts in recent months on the remarkable variety of anole species available in the pet trade (for example, here and here), particularly in the Europe. Another aspect of the pet trade, however, is the volume at which it occurs, and in this case, it is probably a few common species that make up the bulk of the trade. A recent paper in the Herpetological Journal explored reptile and amphibian commerce in Great Britain over a ten-year period from the mid-1990’s to mid-2000’s. The paper has some interesting points on various aspects of the dynamics of the trade, including how price has changed, the role of captive breeding, and other points. Anoles aren’t a central focus of this paper, but it does report that the price of anoles has increased over time, even after correcting for inflation: 26% in both A. carolinensis and A. sagrei, but only 4% in A. equestris.  This was about middle of the pack for lizard species surveyed. Some had become more expensive—more than 400% more in Parson’s chameleon—but about half the species had become cheaper, green iguanas dropping by 69% at the other extreme.

I summarized what I could learn about the anole trade in Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree. It isn’t much, but here’s what I had to say: From 1998–2002, more than 250,000 A. carolinensis and more than 100,000 A. sagrei were legally exported from the United States; in the same period, as many as 30,000 anoles of various species may have been imported into the U.S. Figures for imports into other countries are unavailable, but may be large because there are many reptile hobbyists in Europe. The United States is the only country likely to have much domestic trade in anoles, and these numbers, too, are great because many A. carolinensis and A. sagrei are captured and sold within the United States, not only for the pet trade, but also to laboratories, educational supply companies, and zoos. Data on the magnitude of this trade is scarce, but more than 250,000 anoles were collected in Florida in a four-year period in the early 1990s (this number may be a substantial underestimate because dealers were not required to report the number of the introduced A. sagrei and as a result, most did not do so.). in Louisiana, nearly a million A. carolinensis a year were collected in the mid-1990s, but that number has declined to around 350,000 per year in 2006, apparently as a result of declining demand, rather than shortage of anoles.

The website anolissen.nl has a collection of reasonably high quality anole videos, including one of Terry Ord’s behavior research, featured yesterday, as well as A. allisoni from Cuba fighting; many Cuban species displaying, including A. allogus (or was it A. ahli?) and A. mestrei; A. cuvieri displaying; A. punctatus displaying; a green anole (who can identify it?) eating a butterfly; and a bonus outgroup track of Polychrus acutirostris, as well as others.

Field Assistants (2-3) needed for field research on the behavior and ecology of the lizards Anolis sagrei and Leiocephalus carinatus on Great Abaco Island, Bahamas. The projects are part of a long-term study evaluating behavioral plasticity and its consequences on ecological and evolutionary processes. Assistants will be in charge of collecting focal observations and general ecological data. Duties include assisting in data collection, analyzing video recordings, habitat characterization, and data entry. Assistants must be flexible in their needs, comfortable living and working in close quarters, and able to work under hot and humid conditions. Assistants must enjoy watching and describing the behavior of animals for long periods of time, while working under relatively isolated conditions. Prior experience conducting fieldwork is desirable but not required. This can be a great opportunity for undergraduates with an interest in pursuing graduate studies in behavioral ecology or herpetology. An overview of the day-to-day activities related to this project can be found at

http://chipojolab.blogspot.com

Positions will run from 16 May to 13 June 2011. We offer a living stipend ($1,440/month), plus room & board and cost of transportation to the field-site. Field assistants will need to provide their own personal gear, including a backpack and life-jacket. Research will take place on relatively small islands, and short trips in a small boat are part of the daily activities. Email a cover letter, resume, and contact info for two (2) references to:

mleal@duke.edu

The review of applications will begin immediately.

Manuel Leal

Department of Biology

Duke University

Photo from http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=18556

Just back from a talk on primate color evolution. I was gratified to see that the opening slide of the talk included a picture of an anole—didn’t expect that in a monkey talk! However, the image used was the one above. Anole seminar aficionados know that this is a no-no—this image has been used in more talks than is humanly imaginable! The reason is simple: when you Google (or Google Image) Anolis, this image is one of the first couple that pop up. And it’s seemingly a nice picture, so people tend to use it. All the time. But look more closely. This guy is not the Adonnis of the anole world. Rather, his schnozz is very beat up. This fellow should not be the poster child for the anole world. I had always assumed that he was a captive animal, who had rubbed his snout raw against an aquarium wall, as often happens. However, the recent post on fighting A. carolinensis illustrates that perhaps this guy is a fighter, not a lover, and bears the scars of his battles. In any case, a word to the wise: use another anole photo in your presentations.

Dale Hoyt (dhoyt5@charter.net) asks the very reasonable question:

What is the proper pronunciation of “Anole”? Is it Ann-ol, An-ol-ee,or something else?
I get different answers when I consult online pronunciation guides, e.g.,
http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=anole&submit=Submit
or
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?anole001.wav=anole

Thoughts, anyone?

My parents have Anolis carolinensis living in their mums.  This picture was taken in the spring, but they’re still in her potted plants in November, just cold and hunkered down.

A bunch of our young captive born anoles are coming down with an illness that results in swollen eyes, blindness, inability to feed, and, ultimately, death.  The material that is causing the eyes to swell does not appear to be retained shed, but rather a membranous mass that gradually expands to cover the entire eye.  We sent some animals off for necropsy and the preliminary results indicate hypovitaminosis A.  At least one published study identifies this condition in captive green anoles, although the symptoms reported in that case were more widespread [pdf link].  We feed our anoles two types of crickets: Acheta and Gryllodes.  The crickets, in turn, are fed chicken mash and limited quantities of fresh vegetables.  We also dust our crickets with a calcium + D3 supplement during 2/3 of their weekly feedings.  We’ve been housing hundreds of adult anoles on this feeding regimen for the last few years without trouble (the putative hypoviaminosis A is cropping up only in our 6-8 month old juveniles).  We’re going to add a multivitamin to our dusting routine and will begin supplementing crickets with more fresh vegetables (including things high in vitamin A like sweet potatoes), but we’re also wondering if anyone else has had experience with hypovitaminosis A in anoles.  We’re particularly interested to know how treatable the condition is once diagnosed and whether it results strictly from a dietary deficiency or if other aspects of the animals environment may be contributing.