Reptiles page 6

Animal Stories: Our gardens in Texas are home to dozens of green anoles. These charming little lizards are constantly amusing us with their antics. During the hottest part of the summer, they are easy to spot when we water the plants with a hose, since they first jump out of the way of the water, then carefully approach to get a drink and then to hunt insects that are flushed out. The large males will often try to frighten us away with their impressive territorial display of flashing their red neck flap. Once they find out that we aren't intimidated, they often just ignore us and go about their business of eating bugs. The babies are especially cute, and by July, the gardens are filled with them. Even though they are only a couple inches long, they act just like the adults, hunting the insects that the watering scares out. The largest thing I ever saw an anole eat was a moth that was twice as long as the lizard's head. It took her at least 10 minutes to manage to swallow the whole thing.

Green Anole (Zilker Gardens, Austin, Texas) Green Anole (Tampa, Florida) Green Anole (Austin, Texas) Green Anole (Ocala National Forest, Florida) Green Treefrog (Ravine Gardens State Park, Florida) Green Treefrog (Myakka River State Park, Florida) Cuban Treefrog (The Florida Aquarium, Tampa) Arrow Poison Frog (zoo) Leopard Frog (Brazos Bend State Park, Texas) Leopard Frog (Zilker Gardens, Austin, Texas) Toad (Fort Worth, Texas)