When I got home from the grocery store today, I found a friend waiting for me. Strong and handsome, confident and green, reclined on the branch of the wax myrtle in front of the house, he rolled one eye up to look at me as I walked by with the groceries. The King of the Green Anoles, he has maintained his dominance against all challengers for three years now, but I was privileged to be an audience of one at the fight that won him his crown.
Green anoles are the small non-indigenous lizards found throughout Texas and much of the south.
They are harmless little insectivores who naturalize easily wherever they are intentionally or accidentally transported, without upsetting the ecological balance. Anoles have relatively short lifespans, produce small clutches of eggs and provide food for some of the larger birds, like egrets and herons. Besides which, they turn green for reasons not entirely clear to herpetologists, and that's enough to make most people regard them as pleasant. I was weeding the side garden one spring afternoon when I caught a flash of green motion out of the corner of my eye. Two male green anoles were perched on the corner trim of the house bobbing furiously and inflating their throat fans in an obvious territorial display.