Tag Archives: Anoles

Green anole in ti leaves

green anole in ti leaves 011719-070Ti plants grow well in Hawaii, so well that they can get out of hand. If they look like doing so, the prudent thing is to prune, but that has one drawback. Where you cut a stem of a ti plant, two new shoots will form. This means that trimming a ti plant is a temporary fix prior to it coming back stronger.

Despite this drawback, I like them quite a bit. The lines of the leaves make for interesting patterns and shapes, especially when the sun shines on them, or through them. They’re also popular with wildlife. Geckos and anoles spend a good deal of time sunning themselves on ti leaves, or resting on the edges with one eye peering over to see what else is around. In this photo, a green anole was doing just that, but found nothing worthwhile, just me pointing my camera at him.

Green anole dewlap

Green anole extends dewlap

Green anoles display their dewlaps for breeding and to establish territory among males. When a male anole enters the territory of another, the holder of that territory displays his dewlap and bobs his head up and down. Often the intruding male will leave, but he might also return the display and try to take that territory. Such encounters can turn violent.

Male anoles will also display their dewlaps when their territory is breached by people, dogs, chickens and the like. In this photo, the male anole is displaying his colors at me, but with an air of resignation. I think this is because he recognized me and knew that I was mostly harmless and, no matter what he did, I wouldn’t go away until I’d taken a few photos.

A green anole looking for its keys?

Anole hanging on to leaf

Something about how this green anole is hanging on to the leaf, and its expression — a touch of frustration and resignation — made me imagine it was looking for something, lost keys perhaps, or that bug it had stashed for later.

More likely, it’s thinking, ‘If I keep very still, perhaps this annoying thing will go away.’

Green anoles mating

Green Anoles mating

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.’

 

Three-legged anole

Three-legged green anole

Three-legged anoleI love nature, but I’m reminded from time to time that it isn’t always warm and fuzzy. One such occasion was when I noticed that one of the resident green anoles was getting around on fewer than the standard issue number of limbs. Something nasty had happened to him, possibly in the form of a larger anole.

I’d always assumed that such a disadvantage would make it unlikely the creature would survive in its Darwinian environment, but it didn’t seem to bother this anole unduly. He defended his territory with vigor and while he had a slightly lopsided gait, it didn’t appear to affect his ability to get around or to hunt. I saw him more than once, leaping from one leaf to another and snagging some unfortunate bug that wasn’t paying attention.

So perhaps this was a different kind of positive aspect of nature — unless you’re a bug that is.

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