New Captain

Meet our NEW captain in training.

Maria is currently driving with a restricted permit. However, she is a fast learner, and her abilities to navigate the waters of Snake Cay are improving very quickly. Although, she needs some extra practice on how to navigate in low tide, as illustrated by the picture below.

Air-Sagrei

The head-bob displays of anoles have been studied for decades. In the early 1970's, Tom Jenssen's pioneering work began to unravel the intricacies of these motion signals. This work was followed by research conducted by Leo Fleishman (A.K.A. "Jefesisimo"), who elegantly demonstrated that head-bobs are designed to be conspicuous against background vegetation movement. Dave's research is building upon the work of Tom and Leo by evaluating the plasticity of head-bobs, along with possible mechanisms that anoles might employ to increase the likelihood of being detected by conspecifics. Today's video illustrates one such mechanism: note (in slow motion) how the anole is pushing so vigorously with his forelimbs that both limbs leave the perch! This behavior results in extremely high amplitude displays, which should be easily detected by conspecifics.



Also, Dave has a new field assistant, look carefully and you should see the assistant standing next to Dave and ready to run down any misbehaving anole.

Got you!!!!!!

The anoles are learning the hard way that there is no place to hide when Angie is conducting focal observations. Think you can run under a rock and feel safe? Think again. That is "a piece of cake" for Angie. She'll just take the camera off the monopod, get down to the ground while holding the camera with one hand, and continue describing exactly what's going on. In case you are wondering, it takes only a few seconds to complete this maneuver.

Look Who's Bobbing

Although most of our research revolves around the behavior of anoles, we are also interested in understanding the behavior and ecology of Leiocephalus curly-tailed lizards. Compared to anoles, our current understanding of the behavior and ecology of curly-tails is extremely limited. My observations suggest that most curly-tail individuals are inquisitive with very bold personalities. Also, their social displays are very different from those used by anoles. Below is a short video clip of one of their advertisement displays, which typically include a series of push-ups and head-bobs given with the back arched. Curlies, like anoles, also have a "dewlap" like structure, which is usually kept extended during the displays. However, the "dewlaps" are tiny and nothing to be proud off when compared to the mighty and glorious Anolis dewlap.

MATING!!!!!!

The mating behavior of anoles has been mostly studied in two species, A. carolinensis and A. sagrei. In the case of A. sagrei Richard Tokarz and his students have conducted a significant amount of research on multiple aspects of their mating behavior. One of my favorites is the research demonstrating that males are able to recognize and remember the females they have mated with, even after not having any sort of visual or physical contact with those females, over a period of few days. Today, Maria joined the ranks of those who have "enjoyed" watching mating behavior in anoles. No words are needed to describe Maria's excitement, just watch the video and listen to her play-by-play description.

"LIZARD-ISMS"

A good number of videos are already transcribed, and we have a few "LIZARD-ISMS" to share with our followers.

"It's going to be difficult to get this lizard on video without falling into the ocean ..... but I'm going to try."

"Jump, Jump, Jump, Run, Jump, Oh my God, Jump ......."

"There's a branch in my stomach and it's probably poisonwood."

"No, no .... there was a noise after the spitting out spider webs."

"Jeeze, there's another male! They're everywhere!"

"I'm getting a leg workout right now."

"I can feel the sweat rolling down my back .. it's gross."

"Alright, you better stay here for at least 5 minutes or you're going to die......just kidding ..she's too cute to harm."

Guavate

Today I drove from the south coast of Puerto Rico up to the El Yunque rain forest to collect a couple of new species to run. This took me past the famed Guavate lechoneras, so I stopped in for lunch. This is my favorite place to eat in Puerto Rico, and it didn't disappoint. Roasted pork, rice, and sweet plantains. DELICIOUS! And here is a link to a video where you can see the place ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5p1Mbi-5AU). It's towards the end of the clip.