Monday, April 14, 2014

Anole carolinenesis

File-Green_anoles_mating.jpg

So I was out in my backyard and all of sudden i spotted a bright green Anole carolinenesis. I was like i see those all the time but then something amazing happened!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtAu7hUmeww. The Anole started doing push ups and displaying his bright red dewlap. I then began to see if there were any other lizards but could not spot any. It was amazing I actually saw a dominance display in the wild. He was trying to maintain control of his terroty and/or attract females in the area. Anoles display this as a sort of mating ritualistic dance. Once the females are attracted to the males, the females will let the male catch them and the male will begin to lower his tail below her to line up their reproductive organs. 
The female will then lay eggs in about two weeks to a months time and produce them in clutches of one to two eggs. She will continue to lay clutches until she has reached about ten eggs. The hatchlings will have to fend for themselves. All this time i thought lizards were just spazing out but some much more was going on.

2 comments:

Allison Welch said...

Awesome! What were the conditions like in your backyard when you observed this behavior?

Anonymous said...

I actually just found an anole last week too! It was climbing up a wall by the pool in my apartment complex, and when I went to try to get near it, it displayed its dewlap. When I tried to grab it, it ran super fast underneath a bush and I never saw it again...oh well. I just thought it was cool to see a lizard at my apartment and immediately be able to identify it.