Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Brown Anole

Anolis sagrei

Description:

This one shedding it's skin. I read somewhere that the young ones sometimes have red heads. The brown anole (Anolis sagrei) is a lizard native to Cuba and the Bahamas. It has been widely introduced elsewhere, by being sold as a pet lizard, and is now found in Florida and as far north as southern Georgia, Texas, Taiwan, Hawaii, Southern California, and other Caribbean islands. This species is highly invasive. In its introduced range, it reaches exceptionally high population densities, is capable of expanding its range very quickly, and both outcompetes and consumes many species of native lizards. The brown anole's introduction into the United States has altered the behavior and triggered a negative effect on populations of the native Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis), which have generally been relegated to the treetops. SHEDDING: Brown anoles molt in small pieces, unlike some other reptiles, which molt in one large piece. Anoles may consume the molted skin to replenish supplies of calcium. In captivity, the molted skin may stick to the anole if humidity is too low. The unshed layer of skin can build up around the eyes, preventing the lizard from feeding and leading to starvation. This can be prevented by maintaining high humidity.

Notes:

Found in my Florida back yard.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

3 Comments

alicelongmartin
alicelongmartin 11 years ago

Looks like he is wearing an overcoat for winter.

LaurieWinters
LaurieWinters 11 years ago

Thanks YukoChartraw!

YukoChartraw
YukoChartraw 11 years ago

Nice spotting!

LaurieWinters
Spotted by
LaurieWinters

St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

Spotted on Nov 4, 2012
Submitted on Nov 5, 2012

Related Spottings

Anolis Anolis Anolis Anolis lizard

Nearby Spottings

Blue Porterweed common wood sorrel Mourning Dove Great Egret

Reference

Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team