I was in Arkansas, near Hot Springs on a cool morning a few years ago when I was greeted by a scratchy noise in the tree above my head. I looked up to see this brown lizard hanging from the tree bark about 10 feet above me.

We eyed each other while I tried to take its picture before it scampered off and it watched me for any threatening moves. Notice how its long toes are adapted for hanging on to surfaces.

I was treated to an open mouth display which I didn’t perceive as aggression, instead I think the little guy had become overly warm in his sunny spot.

Here my little friend is checking for death from above since he is a tasty morsel on many birds’ diet. The lack of color in the skin of the throat region may mean this little guy is a girl.

Here’s another view of the body and the toes of this arboreal lizard. They spend their lives in trees and shrubs of forested locales all across the southern United States.

Here is a picture of a member of the same species I photographed in Fort Worth some years ago. This is the normal color for this species but they are capable of changing color to the brown form depending on what kind of camouflage they need to blend into the surface they occupy.

The last image shows the gular fold of a male fully extended. Females will not have the reddish colored dewlap. So, I think the brown Anolis in the earlier pictures is female since all of her throat was white.

I enjoy these small lizards whenever I get a chance to see them. The first one I ever saw was in my grandmother’s living room in northern Louisiana. The little fella was living in the Schefflera plant she had in there. They are lively little creatures who inhabit the trees and shrubs and sometimes people keep them for pets. I count myself lucky to have been in the right place at the right time to photograph these two beauties. This is the first time I have ever seen a brown one!

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The Green Anole, Anolis carolinensis carolinensis is a relative of the Iguana that lives in the forests of the southern United States. I photographed this little fella on some wire fencing at a park in Fort Worth, Texas.

These lizards live in the tops of trees and on their trunks as well as on shrubbery and other vegetation near them. They feed upon all kinds of insects and spiders and like to pounce on their prey from above. The genus Anolis has over 15 species in it and Anolis carolinensis had its entire genome sequenced in 2011.

Pictured here is a male who has extended his gular fan to warn me to approach no further. These little fellas will press their bodies flat, bob their heads, and flash their gular fans at other lizards or photographers invading their territory. If that doesn’t work, they will attack and try to drive their unwanted guest away. In my case, he chose to flee since I had him beat on size. Females have a gular fan, too. It is one third the size of the males’ and white.

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