Category: Natural History Observations Page 21 of 34

Anolis brunneus going at it on Crooked Islands, Bahamas. Photo by Michele Johnson

And we have a winner: but is it who you think? Photo by Andrew Battlees

Anolis brunneus is a close relative of A. carolinensis, but is unusual in that it has lost the ability to turn bright green–the best it can manage is a dull olive. Little is known of this species, but you can read the latest from a recent expedition led by Thom Sanger and Michele Johnson (1,2).

While on this trip, Michele and her student Andrew Bartley observed the following  fracas between two male brunnei (incidentally, A. brunneus attains a size greater than most A. carolinensis and comparable to the largest A. porcatus).

Michele tells the story: “Near the end of our first full day of fieldwork on Crooked Island, part of our field team (Trinity University student Chris Robinson, recent graduate Andrew Battles, and myself) observed two males displaying extensively to one another, in full blue head color with their crests raised and their black “armpit” spot showing. (This seems to be a variation on the black eyespot in A. carolinensis that appears when the lizards are threatened.) We watched the lizards posture at each other for some time (perhaps 15 minutes), chasing and retreating, with many dewlap extensions and head-bobbing displays. The lizards eventually locked their jaws in the fight, and remained in this position for about 20 minutes, until one lizard threw the other off the tree branch – but the “hanging” lizard hung on, eventually pulling himself back up to the branch, and ultimately threw the other lizard off the branch entirely. During the fight, I took pictures from the ground, while Andrew climbed a tree (~3m up) to take pictures from the perch height of the lizards. It was quite an exciting way to end our first day of behavioral observation!”

Obama, the anole, victorious. Check it out on Dust Tracks on the Web

A while back, we had a report of the fabled gray-dewlapped green anole at Corkscrew Swamp in the environs of Naples, FL. Janson Jones headed down there to see for himself (making him an honorary Missourian), but got both more and less than he bargained for. Check out his dispatches from yesterday and today.

Photo by Scott Hartley.

Details at Chipojolab.

Anolis smaragdinus

Picture this: I’m walking back to my room in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas and as I approach the building, a green anole (A. smaragdinus) that was on the side of the fence enclosing the air conditioner (marked x) runs down the fence to the sidewalk, then hightails it on the sidewalk–legs cycling furiously–running straight towards me. It gets to the palm tree just before I do, then dashes furiously up to the top of the palm tree. What a sight! I could read it in his eyes–“gotta’ get to that tree before that big lunkhead does. Gotta’ run, fast, fast fast.” Didn’t anyone tell him he’s not terrestrial? Couldn’t he have just run up the building wall?

The escape route

What is this odd-looking fellow?

A friend of mine wanted to know what anole species this was invading the southeastern U.S., and whether it was a threat to the green anole, Anolis carolinensis. Of course, it is nothing more than a large green anole, but it shows how transformed they are when they become agitated. The enlarged dorsal crest on the neck–bright green–and the black spot behind the eye–classic signs of a male engaged in an aggressive confrontation. Understandable how someone could have mistaken it for a different species.

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:

This is the same male seen in last photo of the Face-Off.

The seemingly victorious male Anolis sagrei of the previous day’s Face-Off is seen displaying perched on the base of a palm tree and under the nearby hedge with a female.  More photos from my May 9th post are here.