Natural History: Anolis carolinensis

During the tour of Caw Caw historic rice plantation, a specimen of Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis), also known as the American green anole, was spotted ~2 meter off the trail in a dry forest area covered with dry sticks and leaves. The weather was cloudy with light precipitation creating a moist environment which is preferred of anoles. The specimen was 13-14cm from snout to tail indicating this individual is likely a female adult. Also helping identify the sex is the size sexual dimorphism between males and females, females seldom exceeding 5-6 inches. Another indication of sex is a visible white stripe running down the middle of the back which was not observed on this specimen, along with the lightly colored dewlap (not pink which occurs in males). Other notable characteristics are the unique toepads with highly visible setal hairs helping them with climbing, among the triangular shaped head, and large eye socket. The body color can range from bright green to brown, with a visible white area along the lining of the mouth running to the dewlap is unique coloration.Once spotted and approached, the anole quickly evaded trying to escape capture. I was able to catch the specimen by grabbing him around the torso/head, avoiding grabbing by the tail to prevent tail autonomy at the fracture planes. Once held the anole became very angry trying to escape capture, this was noted because of his flashing of the pinkish dewlap. Once handed to Dr. Welch, he bit on to her finger slowly increasing grip strength. He maintained this bite for about 3 minutes.
Catching the Carolina anole was exciting due to the speed and difficulty in catching them. I was excited to see the size of the lizard and how large his mouth was.