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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI14090824/00001
Notes
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Anole 1
Length of Segment: 00:01:15
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Among the most conspicuous of our native lizards is the green anole: a slender five to eight inch long lizard that runs along tree and shrub surfaces in search of insects and spiders. A green anole is easily recognized because of its slender appearance, long tail, long toes, long nose, and characteristic lime-green color above with white to green below. A male green anole has a conspicuous dewlap, loose skin that can be extended from the throat downward and projecting slightly forward, sticking out like the keel on a sailboat. In most of the range of the green anole, this dewlap is a strawberry-red. In South Florida, it can vary from red to pink to cream-colored and sometimes even to magenta, blue, or purple. Females have a dewlap too, and it's used in much the same way, but it is generally much less conspicuous. The male green anole sticks out his dewlap in a spectacular display that is often accompanied by bobbing up and down as if the lizard were doing push-ups. The bobbing and the dewlap are used as a warning display to defend a territory against a neighboring lizard or to court a mate. ( English,English,English,English )
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Anole 2
Length of Segment: 00:01:17
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. My introduction to the green anole came through the circus that visited our town when I was a child. Outside the big top, vendors sold chameleons tethered with a bit of thread to a safety pin. For less than a dollar, I could have a pet riding on my shoulder. Of course I had to have one. My pet soon escaped, probably one of the lucky ones. Chameleons are lizards that are found in Africa and Asia that move slowly, have eyes that move independently of one another, and can change colors. My pet, the American lizard so often called a chameleon, was a green anole, a close relative of the iguanas, and not at all closely related to the Old World chameleons. The green alone earned the name chameleon because it too can change colors. Like the true chameleons, the green anole does not change its color to match its surroundings. Both lizards change color from green to brown or gray or nearly black in response to light, temperature, and emotion. When cold, an anole will turn dark, a color that more readily absorbs heat. When hot, it will turn lighter, thus better able to reflect excess heat. When excited, the green anole is bright lime-green.
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Anole 3
Length of Segment: 00:01:09
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. The slender five to eight inch long lizard known as the green anole is common through much of Florida, and has likely benefited from many human actions. It prefers edges and more open areas in forests as it feeds on insects, spiders, and other small creatures from the ground to tree trucks and branches to the leafy foliage sometimes high in trees. It does well even in urban areas, so long as there is sufficient shrubbery to provide it safe retreats from predators, and pesticides are used sparingly. Enemies of the green anole vary with age of the lizard and locality. Birds ranging from hawks to blue jays and even red-bellied woodpeckers will occasionally capture one. Several kinds of snakes eat them. Some invaders also diminish green anole populations. Feral cats are a serious threat. Young green anoles fall prey to the introduced Cuban tree frog and large Cuban anoles, which also compete with the green anole for food. Green anoles, with their lime-green scales and pink dewlap add a touch of color, fascinating behavior, and natural insect control to Florida backyards. They're well worth encouraging.
- Scope and Content:
- Source: Anole 4
Length of Segment: 00:01:08
Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Summertime is prime-time for breeding for green anoles, and these slender green lizards can often be seen defending territories and courting. The bigger, brighter colored males move around a lot, pausing now and then to catch an insect, to display or to court the females that he guards from the attentions of neighboring males. Females have a much smaller home range, and up to about six females may live within the home-range of each breeding male. A green anole female lays tiny, white, jellybean-shaped eggs. Unlike many lizards, she doesn't lay them all at once; each female lays one or two eggs about every ten to fourteen days for a total of about fifteen to eighteen eggs per summer. Each egg is buried in loose soil or mulch, usually on the ground but sometimes in material collected in depressions on tree surfaces. Once an egg has been buried, the female never returns to it. Eight to ten weeks later, the egg hatches, and the tiny green lizard fends for itself, catching larger and larger insects as it grows.
Record Information
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- Added automatically
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- Rights Management:
- Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the users responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights.
- Resource Identifier:
- FI00900157
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