Why Are These Urban Lizards Evolving In Overdrive? 

The cold open on "So I set up a lizard race track" is amazing

Not sure why, but the shots of her snatching up the lizards with her mini catchpole is hilarious to me 😂 she's much better at catching them than kid me was.

these Anoles are the Galapagos finches of Puerto Rico

They should study the behavior differences too. I live in Florida. During the summer, the anoles like to hang out near my front door. Whenever I open my door, most of them run away. But some run into the house. My house is not a good environment for them. They are usually in bad shape by the time I can catch them and put them outside. One day I was walking down the driveway. Usually they run into the grass as I approach. One, apparently fearless, held its ground. As I tried to step over it, it lost its nerve and ran under the shadow of my foot. Not good for that little beastie. To an anole, I'm Godzilla.

Thinking a city isnt an ecosystem is silly, the differences in insect and plant life between urban and forest environments where I live is drastic. The urban areas are primarily dominated by European plants and animals which become rare in the closed forests that are common here. I live in a temperate rainforest climate too so the water and humidity favors moss and epiphytic plants which will grow on concrete and rooves, often damaging them and the dark alleys will often have ferns and other plants common to the closed forests rather then things like dandelions.

Up until I started growing my garden organically I was wrapped up in insect pests and rarely saw a lizard. Now garden insect pests are rare and I’m wrapped up in lizards, frogs, turtles and snakes (the friendly kind). I know we’re talking about city lizards and I live in the country but while we’re on the subject of lizards…

This is super interesting research and I agree, urban cities should start to be considered ecosystems

What I've always wondered is how geckos evolved to sale insurance?

Anoles really are the most charming little dudes. Just at my house (south Mississippi, btw) we have at least two different species, some green ones that like it sunny and some tan-stripey ones that prefer the shadows in our garage. We joke that they are "outside lizards" and "inside lizards," but I'm very glad to have them around. The garage lizards eat SO MANY SPIDERS. The green guys, once you do catch one, will calm down really quickly and then just chill, enjoying your body warmth for a few. I see no reason NOT to consider cities as distinct ecosystems. There's a term I've heard - the "constructed world" - and I feel like that absolutely encompasses the ecology within urban spaces. And because it IS a constructed world, that means we have the opportunity to CONSTRUCT a vibrant ecosystem in those places where the most humans are living. Everyone benefits from that!

I've always loved these little guys! The description of "charismatic," in my opinion, is apt. They have such character and attitude! I had a couple as pets from the pet store as a kid. It is fascinating to see natural selection pressures in action here! San Jose is such a beautiful city, too. I have only been there once so far, and there was far too much to experience in just one short visit, especially since we went for our friends' wedding! They are from the island, so it was great to be there with folks who know it well, even as tourists.

The concept of urban ecosystems needs to become a reality. Fascinating video!

They did a study on how anoles have adapted to hurricane conditions and I believe they found the ones with bigger toe pads were able to hang onto surfaces during high wind-speed events

Saludos from Puerto Rico!! 🇵🇷 happy to see you celebrating and discovering the joy of these creatures. One thing I would like to mention Is that for a hundreds of years now, cats have roamed San Juan. I would imagine one of the prime factors in Anols adapting to become faster is to be able to avoid these apex predators. Cats love to hunt lizards around here, sadly.

This reminds me soo much about my Phd, I was also "fishing" lizards and placing there in racetracks. Although it was Liolaemus and was in South America. I can tell you when you walk around Atacama desert with a fishing rod, you also tend to rise some eyebrows!

Humans evolved in the Shrubland ecosystem, outside of dense forests. We built large "nests" because of a lack of cover. This turned into villages of shelters. We domesticated perennial plants that thrive in , you guessed it, Shurbland and grassland ecosystems. we domesticated those plants, because they were apart of the diet we already naturally consumed in the place we lived and gathered them. First animals we domesticated were Goats and Sheep, species that colonized the rocky hilly foothill and mountains, covered in Mediterranean near eastern dry shrubland. Today we have massive cities, but nothing has changed. The ecosystem that merges most proficiently with our urban environments, is the shrubland ecosystem. I think we should look to design urban eco-landscapes based on theses shrubland models, and look to foster the flora and fauna that would colonize them also. Large fauna cannot cope with urban areas, but since large prey wont get in, neither will large predators. Instead our urban areas would be filled with diverse bird, small mammal and reptile habitat, with the appropriate complement of predators to match them, small mammalian predators, small carnivorous reptiles, and birds of prey over head. We just gotta keep the large tree species out, except in limited spaces like parks.

So interesting! Our crew also got on camera for a project studying how cockatoos adapt to thrive in cities like Sydney. It's quite thrilling to see nature adapting outside of nature.

One thing i noticed as a kid is that i always seem to find these anoles that match perfectly even on the tiniest area like a specific tree stump.

Mice,rats, even raccoons, and coyotes all seem to adapt and even thrive in cities. And I think coyotes do well.

My buddy used to be in charge of buying lab animals for a biology lab. He said his big Anole supplier was squeezing them on price so they tried a small business instead. They had to switch back to Big Anole when the small business used the excuse of "we didn't realize there was a hole in the net" for not delivering enough Anoles on time.

“Underground lizard gambling ring” really caught me off guard 😂 I needed that thank you !

I used to have pet anoles as a kid they are one of my favorite lizards.

"No one walks around doing something sketchy listening to Reggae"

Oh cool, Puerto Rico mentioned! 🇵🇷

I’m so excited that there is a video covering this, growing up always used to catch these lizards and studied them and I noticed how they slowly changed over the years.

Best arts and crafts project ever

Love the banter between these two

City mouse and country mouse

At what point do the urban lizards become a new species?

Keep us mesmerizing us by uploading such wonderful and educational stuffs! I found your channel late but it's worth it now! Looking forward to watching more videos in various vast field of science whether it's biology, chemistry or physics and anything like on environment and more!

Dr. Winchell!! So privileged to have her as my biology professor

Best nature video I have seen in a long time. I love anoles!

I love Green anoles, they’re some of my favorite animals. They have such distinct personalities

As a kid I had anoles and hermit crabs they were a good lesson for responsibility this video was very interesting thanks

Reminds me of the lizards with longer toes to grip trees better during strong winds. I think that was one of your videos. Pretty cool you got to hang out with an old friend, catching anoles like old times.

What is a shame in Florida is the displacement of the native green anoles with invasive non native brown anoles. The brown anoles outbreed the native anoles and have driven the green anoles higher into the vegetation.

Anoles are a terribly underappreciated species. I have lived my entire life in Florida, and people tend to treat them like roaches. Research seems hard to find. You say there are thousands of species, but all I knew of were the Green Anole and the Cuban Brown Anole that is invasive and dominant in FL. I love the Green Anole's ability to rapidly change color, and the fact that both have a primitive sort of 3rd eye on the top of their head to defend against predation from above. I do see some crested ones here, and always wondered if that was a separate species. I love that some are pretty chill when caught, and some are super angry. Thanks for sharing the fact that some people are actually studying these delightful animals. I never knew until now.

Truly a fascinating study, evolution in nature is still there it just takes people like this looking in on the often overlooked right under our noses. Kudos to your studies guys well done opening up the changing microcosm of these lil lizars to us .

I’ve noticed that many videos like this struggle to make the interviews feel natural, and to have the little jokes land-I guess scientists tend to have focus on things besides show business skills-but y’all did a great job at that, it was just enough to feel fun without becoming cringey. I love anoles, they really do have a ton of personality. Though when I was a kid we just thought of them as chameleons.

I'm glad these little fellas are adapting, they're wonderful.

I've been begging @animallogic to film a series on introduced organisms and how they're helping the ecosystems they're introduced to. You both would rock if you partnered up w/ them! Please start with the parrots in California refilling the niche of the human-driven extinction Carolina Parakeet. Thanks!

For those who dont know, there are a few invasive species of anoles in the southeastern US as well.... They are Cuban Brown Anoles, Puerto Rico Crested Anoles, & Green Knight Anoles. They outcompete the native green anoles and eat their young.

I love catching Anoles. Long history growing up catching these guys since I was a kid as well. I always had dreams of catching like handfuls , and then most recently I started doing hvac,, alot of condensers are in areas next to small shrubs and bushes , and usually anoles will make their homes near them due to the condensation that drips and draws in small insects, I was working on a unit and just finished up. I started seeing them around so I decided to start catching em. Next thing I know I have about 6 to 7 in a Gatorade bottle. One of the bigger ones. 😂 It was literally a dream come true. ❤❤❤

used to love catching these lizards as a kid in Florida, I was always fascinated by them

I love learning about urban evolution

Great video! Really enjoy episodes on urban ecology.

Excellent. Thank you!

Just seeing how alot of animals can survive and some even thrive within developing areas such as cities. It really should be a point of focus that human beings find way to adapt with, and protect these awesome types of species. I live along the Tennessee river in a small metropolitan area, that is home to 2 counties, 6 incorporated towns and cities with a population of around 125,000 (That's both counties population added together) And the animals I've seen actually making decent progress are white tail deer, which will use the banks of the river to make their way around the area. And on occasion, you will see several large bucks, several doe, and their little ones right with them. The bad part about being located around the river, several tributaries of creeks, streams, and smaller rivers. You have alot of traffic along US highways, State highways, and some Interstates. I watched about 30 deer cross US 72 near Shoals creek here in northwest Alabama. Right as the morning rush traffic was coming off the hill and met those deer crossing the highway. Multiple deer were killed, and several vehicles were nearly totalled. I was glad to see no one ended up hurt who were driving their vehicles, and none of their passengers. It was extremely depressing to see the number of deer that didn't make it. Seen some get hit, knocked into the air, and when they hit the ground, they got up and took off toward the wooded area. And don't know if they went laid down to die, or lived. Now there are signs everywhere that warn people about the deer population. Now we're dealing with chronic wasting disease here where I live. Raccoons are another animal that do well. Along with Opossums, and believe it or not Alligators are becoming a bit more numerous along north Alabama waterways. And those were introduced to the rivers back in the 70's and 80's to help curb beaver populations. Around here there are species of plants and animals that were brought here to help with one thing, only to create double the issues.

That guy in the background was totally eavesdropping

Lizards are my passion as well. They're just so freaking Cool, and you hardly see them unless you're looking for them.

Very cool and so true

I had one of these little guys as a pet when I was 11 years old.. I would go out and I would catch crickets and Grasshoppers and trap flies for it.. thank you for bringing back a childhood memory

Very cool. Please do more urban biology.

Loving these lively, little, lizard guys!

As always, life finds a way. :) Its amazing how fast animals can adapt to changes. Lizards love heat, so an urban heat island is great for them temperature wise. :)

I was just in Tampa/Orlando FL area for 10 days & these guys are everywhere chilling on hot concrete in the sun & are fast as hell!! 100% adapted to urban environments

I have a green anole i have befriended. Ive been noticing in Florida the green anoles are moving higher up in trees, as the brown anole have taken the ground. When I was young there were no brown ones. Green anoles have adapted to move higher in trees.

When I lived in Costa Rica I use to wander about the evolution of ”house” lizards vs jungle ones. Proud my hunch was a smart one, people would look at me weird when I would mention it. I feel redeemed

I love the annoles in my backyard and study them... there's always a dominant male. They're always jumping on top of things to perch and get sun, but now some bigger lizards from the Caribbean like the curly tails and the red-headed lizards have moved in and they dwarfed the anoles. I even found one in its mouth.

Anoles survived being sold with string tied around their neck tied to a long, thin dowel by hawkers to kids at Shine Circus.

8:00 "Hey, don't touch that!" - the little lizard

Wow! This is so awesome! Two people i hope to meet one day. I studied Brown Anole behavior and social structure at University of Florida in Gainesville. Anoles are probably some of the coolest animals in the world imo. ❤🦎

Okay it is now definitive - city dwellers ACROSS SPECIES are just faster, more efficient, and have cooler footwear!

5:08 still frame is a beautiful shot

Brilliant - more urban research please.

Depending on scale, a garden or even a single tree is an entire ecosystem. People should be aware that ecosystems are any place with a community with populations that interact with life and lifeless, and it has its own conditions, and under this umbrella we have farms, cities, suburbs, trees, vine walls, and probably even your living room is an ecosystem and you don't know lol.

Thank you for this! As a kid down here in greenacres FL they used to be more green. Then over the years they went more brown(bigger exaggerated features) and sometimes even orange-ish because they lived in my dads orange vw for years 😂 the ones that came from inside were bright orange spined or striped compared to the bright green surrounding on the vines and fences

I love anoles! We had the green ones where I grew up in Louisiana

I noticed like 15 year ago that a lot of wood spiders around BC were starting to adapt to the LED lighting in my neighborhood. Instead of building webs in branches they were building webs around lights. And with that they were more successful and getting larger.

I've never been interested in visiting Puerto Rico before, but for some reason this video really made it seem like a cool place to visit.

Exactly what we need in science and governance today 👏

PBS anole content is back baby

Lived in Maui, and they have them there. They were BIG and aggressive. Used to hang out by our trashcans and a tree. Also had them as pets when I was a kid.

Fence lizards in my backyard are becoming so variated in colors. Dark brown. Black. And light tan with blue markings. I love them all!❤ Anoles here in California are getting more Orange and dark grey here to cameo on the sidewalk and pine trees.

Great video!

So cool you mentioned the cold adapting anoles in Texas. After the freeze in 2021 I only saw green anoles for a long time but sure enough the brown anoles bounced back after a few months

How did you make your lizard lassos? I've tried a fishing pole with fishing line, but it's not the greatest especially with Sceloporine lizards on the west coast. (Doubt either of them would answer back, but maybe?)

I love my anoles and protect them in my yard as best I can. I keep cats off my property and I relocate anoles to my gardens. Over the years I have helped them develop a healthy anole population and they aren't even skittish of us humans anymore. It's pretty nice and they do a lot of work in my gardens.

4:48 She said "sh*t" but they put a recording over with her say "stuff" instead 😂

Anoles are awesome. I had one as a pet for 5 years I bought from a pet store and it's was my favorite pet I've had!

This is so cool!

I love Anoles! They're my one of my favorite parts of spring and summer. I see them all over my neighborhood. At 7:05, you mention that you studied their adaptation to the cold in Texas. I've always wonder how they survive the freezes here and don't get completely wiped out. What was the conclusion to this research? Is there anywhere i can read about it?

Idk, sounds like an underground lizard gambling ring to me 🤔

This is really cool.

So cool!

This so interesting! I wonder if anyone has looked into something like this for an insect species

Really neat video, I remember watching something awhile ago about people researching the gripping abilities of lizards like Anoles toes, Wonder if they have looked at the difference between the urban and forest lizards toes to see if there are anymore changes than just being bigger

I don't know much truth to this but I recall as a child in FL catching both the invasive Cuban Brown anoles and the Florida Green anole. I could always spot the two different species equally when I'd play outside. It was the brown anoles that seemed way more aggressive and they may have outperformed the native green anoles for territory and food. Over time I noticed I'd stopped seeing green anoles all together and it was the brown anoles that were always scurrying along fence posts and the ground. I had thought they were killing off the native green anole but as it turned out I realized I'd started spotting the greens live higher in the tree tops while the brown anoles remained terrestrial. The numbers likely didn't change at all but I'd seen less green anoles simply because they may have evolved to climb and thrive!

Anoles are freaking awesome!!!

Underground lizard racing sounds like fun

I love these little things. Favorite lizard.

Thanks for such clear info. May I assume that the city lizards of Tucson have also adapted/evolved similarly. There are increasing examples now of rapid evolution. Neat.

Very interesting ❤

We lived in the "suberbs" in the Virgin Islands and grew lots of trees and food plants, like bananas and sugar cane. We saw a ton of anoles and it makes sense, since they had food, water, and shelter. The city is a "concrete jungle", but there is enough greenery that provides what these animals need.

Those anoles started showing up in N.fl and almost wiped out the regular slow ones that we caught as kids. They were lightning fast, you couldnt catch them.They've maybe been here for 10-20 years and now. I see them less now and the slower ones have made a resurgence. Not sure why

i really hope clint's reptiles sees this I think he'd like it

Cities are a unique and distinct ecosystem, agreed.

The Anole at 0:55 is very common here in Texas. They do change color somewhat, so we've always casually called them chameleons. Literally can find them anywhere lol. They're easy to catch, too, they like chin scritches, and luckily if they bite you it doesn't hurt or even draw blood. Their teeth have excellent grip, tho, so it's hard to get them off.

their toes remind me of gekko's

Had one on my towel when drying off yesterday lol

I would go see a lizard race!