Green Anole

Anolis carolinensis

The Green anole is the only native anole species to Florida and the United States. Green anoles are an aborial lizard that are often seen in both backyards and natural preserves and parks throughout the state.

These brightly colored gems of the state are often called chameleons because of their ability to change colors but are actually related to iguanas. Hormones play a role in their ability to change their color depending upon their mood, temperature and light. Bright green when healthy and content but will turn brown when scared, upset or cold.

In these 2 pictures you will see a male anole in both the bright green and brown color phases.

Both male and female anoles have dewlaps that can be extended in colorful displays. However, the males are usually larger and more colorful while frequently displaying for both courtship and territorial displays.

A freaky cool defense! Other then blending in to avoid predation, in the case that one would get caught they have the ability to drop their tails as a distraction. The tail wiggles and jumps around for up to 30 minutes after detachment to hold the interest of the predator while the anole makes a getaway! The tail can regrow but is not an exact copy but a replacement that is made up of a long tube of cartridge instead of vertebrae and longer muscle fibers instead of short ones, reducing the articulation of the tail when regrown.

What's on the menu!

Green anoles are insectivores and consume many types of flies, Moths, Spiders, Crickets, etc. But they have been seen eating other smaller younger anoles on occasion, including the brown anoles. The Green anole's lifespan is about 2 to 3 years in the wild or, in a healthy captive environment, the can live a bit longer.

The breeding season is typically April through August. During that time, the female will produce one egg about every ten days. The eggs are laid in loose soils and are sometimes see while gardening or in planters. Males are very territorial and fight to keep their females safe. Typically there are 3 to 5 females in 1 males territory. With the increasing number of brown anoles introduced into Florida, these numbers may vary depending on the health of the population.

Here is a brown anole for comparison.

The brown anoles spend more time at lower levels, from the ground to lower parts of trees and shrubs. The green anole used to inhabit the lower portions of trees and shrubs, but after the introduction of the Brown Anole, the invasion of the territory began. What do you do when you need to survive a change? You adapt! Green anoles adapted to be better climbers so that they could inhabitant higher parts of trees out of the brown anoles territory. Scientists have discovered they have evolved larger toepads with an increase in lamellae (sticky stuff) in just 20 generations! For an evolutionary change, that is a very short time period of only about 15 years!