DAILY ADVERTISER (Lafayette, Louisiana) 23 April 06 Nature Notes: Lizard living in lap of luxury (Bill Fontenot)

For the past few evenings, a good-sized green anole lizard has deigned to join me here on the back deck for my daily ritual unwinding session. His working territory is the big camellia bush just off the east rail of the deck. Soon after I take my seat, he clambers off of the camellia and onto the adjacent deck rail, about six feet away from my chair.

It might just be a product of my imagination, but his eyes seem a little larger than those of the average anole, giving him a kindly, almost jovial countenance. And so laid back is he that he likes to rest there with his entire belly in complete contact with the deck rail - more like a skink or even an alligator than a typical anole.

So laid back is he that I wonder if he might be sick or something, even though he appears "filled out" with nary a rib showing. Maybe he's just infingardo ("lazybones", a term my always busy Sicilian grandpa frequently affixed to me.

So laid back is he that he barely manages much more than a half-hearted gular display when a younger anole accidentally invades his territory. Instead of tearing after it like any self-respecting adult male anole is wont to do, he looks directly at me (I swear) with a sort of dismayed stare, as if maybe I put the younger lizard up to it.

Sometimes, I wish that he - or anything for that matter - would get busy eating these danged tent caterpillars that cover most surfaces around here. Instead, he barely regards them as they blindly crawl upon him, until, realizing the error of their ways, do a quick tuck-and-roll off of him.

I never thought much about anole lizards until one fateful day when I was cutting a hole in the wall in order to install an air conditioner. Just after we finished the hole, a cockroach appeared, apparently climbing up to the hole from his lair in between the walls. Almost as soon as the cockroach appeared, a green anole was hot on its trail, quickly overtaking it and gulping it down with an eyes-closed satisfied look.

Actually, I think the anole's eyes close in order to aid in swallowing large objects; nevertheless, it was satisfying to see the lizard appear so satisfied. Regardless, from that point on, I became an anole advocate.

All of the references that I've read said though arboreal (tree-dwelling), anoles actually prefer to live within the lower "shrub level" (six feet to eight feet) confines of wooded areas.

We've witnessed many fierce fights among breeding-aged males high up in the trees at the Nature Station. We've watched males chase each other to the tops of mature shade trees, sometimes locking jaws in battle, and sometimes falling 20 to 30 feet to the ground, all with no apparent permanent damage.
Lizard living in lap of luxury

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