An epic battle of nature happened right here at the OEC the afternoon of Friday, March 22. Two male Carolina anoles, also known as green anoles, fought for territory on the fence between the main office and the O-Dome. For over forty-five minutes, these lizards were so concentrated on their fight that they let several small insects scramble past them, as well as let staff members become a close, captivating audience to their fighting ritual.
Students at the OEC often call these green anoles chameleons, and it was very apparent why in the fight witnessed. Though these anoles are not closely related to chameleons, they are able to change their colors from an intense green to a dark brown, and every combination of these colors in between. They can change because of temperature, emotion, and light quality. This afternoon, the cause was emotion, and that emotion was aggression.
The two anoles displayed a fighting ritual including shows of both assertion and challenge. To show their assertion, the anoles did head bobs, which looked like push-ups, over and over. They would also extend their dewlap, a large flap of skin under the throat, and a darkened area behind their eye, called an eyespot, formed. The anoles would slowly circle around each other, doing these push-ups, in an almost dance-like movement reminiscent of boxers in a boxing ring. The anoles puffed themselves up and turn their body so their opponent could see the side profile, possibly trying to scare the other one away by showing how big and powerful they were.
The two anoles were so focused on the other and neither one was willing to back down from the fight, as they are very territorial creatures. One anole stayed green the whole time, while the other turned a shade of brown hardly different than the fence post on which it fought. After circling each other over and over, one taking higher spot on the fence post and then the other, the two anoles finally made contact and bit each other, interlocking their jaws for several minutes at a time, as seen from the pictures below. After each interlock was over, the anoles would retreat a few inches from each other and rest, breathing hard, as if they were two fighters in their respective corners.
In the last observed round of their match, the two anoles again interlocked their jaws, with each of the top parts of their mouths jutted up in the other’s lower part of their mouths. With swift movements, they split apart, dashing away. One jumped to the fence rail below while the other raced to the fence post as the apparent winner of the battle. There were no more push-ups, no more challenge displays, and that day’s epic match was over, with a certain winner.
So, for Carolina anoles here at the OEC, the fence post is the place to be on a warm, bright Friday afternoon, and that’s pretty neat.
-Joan Williams
Piney Woods Press 