I happened to glance out of a window in time to see this green anole leap onto the trunk of a mango tree and scamper upwards. They’re fast movers, so it was only a glimpse, but I did see it had something in its mouth. ‘It’s caught a meal,’ I thought. Time to grab the camera and see what’s going on.

When I got to the tree, I found this scene. That wasn’t lunch the anole had grasped in its jaws, it was his mate. He had dragged her across the grass and up the tree in a most unceremonial manner. But this bite on the neck and the rough handling is the norm for anoles.

In fact, this episode seemed less fraught than others I’ve seen. Once on the tree there was no thrashing around or falling off as I’ve seen before. The two were twisted and locked as one, and their tails arched together. A few minutes later they were done. The female wandered off looking bemused while the male remained in the same spot, lord of all he surveyed.

Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge ‘Twisted.’