We had a battle royal on the patio today and I learned something about lizards . Two male Green Anoles were locked in a life or death battle. Both had turned on their bright green fighting colors and their red fans were on display. One had the other by the throat and the victim was thrashing about as he was caught in a death grip. I wrestled with the idea of breaking them up, but decided that they would eventually decide who was king of the hill and that my intervention would only delay the inevitable.
After a few minutes, the victim began to turn color and soon faded to a dark brown. I was sure he was dying, but somehow he managed to escape the jaws of the smaller animal. He quickly scurried out of range and the winner sat atop the hose reel puffing and strutting. I checked him over and found his only injuries appeared to be some scales missing from his nose. The loser remained out of sight, but a half-hour later, he was back sitting beside the one who had just kicked his butt. He wasn’t strutting, so I guess he was being submissive to the new champion of the patio.
Besides the obvious lesson that not every animal battle is life threatening, I also learned that I had mistaken these little critters for chameleons. I didn’t know that any other lizard could change color so even at my know-it-all age I learned something new.
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