Here is a picture of the green or Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis) that I caught just as we were leaving Ion Swamp. Earlier I had missed a skink so I really wanted to catch a lizard before I left. I dove about 5 times before I finally caught it in the leaf litter under a tree (they are fast little buggers!) These arboreal lizards are very common within the Southeast and may be found both in the woods and in more urban settings on walls, sides of houses, trees, and bushes . You often see the males displaying for females by extending their pink dewlap as they do "push-ups" or head bobbing. This anole shown is probably female because of its small size (they range between 5-8 in snout-tail length, and this one was probably about 5 in) and inconspicuous dewlap. Although it is brown in this picture, these lizards are capable of changing color from bright green to brown for camouflage as well as when they are stressed. They also display tail autotomy, or voluntary tail loss, in encounters with predators so that they may escape while the tail distracts the predator. Green anoles typically forage for small insects like grubs, crickets, and moths.
(Carrie Umberger, SC)
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