If you take a stroll through our campus, you might be surprised by the abundance of little four-legged reptiles sunbathing in the hot Florida sun. Their rotating eyes stare as you go by. These lizards may seem relaxed, but if you get too close for comfort, they scurry for cover. The commonest of our lizards is the Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei), but these are an invasive exotic that arrived from the Caribbean in the 1800s.
Probably accidentally introduced in cargo, the Brown Anole is now outcompeting the native Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis). The Green Anole is the only anole native to North America, but it has lost part of its niche space - foraging on the ground - due to the competition from the invasive Brown Anole. Consequently, to see the Green Anole look in dense shrubs and on tree branches, whereas it's the Brown Anole that is so common on the ground.
View more information about the Brown Anole and the Green Anole.
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