Why I Chose to Study Such a Small Lizard
Dear supporters,
Thank you so much for taking the time to view my project. I greatly appreciate all of the support that you have given me, and look forward to watching this project progress in the future. You have already read about the project and what it is, so I figured I would use this opportunity to discuss my inspiration behind this project and its personal significance.
It all started on my 8th birthday. The family vacation that year was to go to Disney, which being in Florida, is the hub of all anoles. Everywhere in the park I would see little brown lizards darting around (which I would later find out is the invasive cuban brown anole). I would try to catch them, but would fail every time. Finally, after many attempts, I caught one of the precious lizards! I found it so amusing. It had toe pads like geckos, but was slender like the skinks back home in New Jersey. Of course my parents did not share my enthusiasm and ordered me to put it down immediately.
I have never forgotten that experience, so when the time came to pick a research topic, it was easy to decide that I wanted to study anoles. Green anoles seemed like the natural thing to study because of the oddity of their color changing mystery. They are one of the most common lizards seen in pet stores, yet the motive behind one of their most defining characteristics was unknown. In addition to being able to color change, they have independent moving eyes, “sticky” toe pads, a “third eye” that they use to sense light, a bright red dewlap, and can drop and regrow their tail! Every adaptation that the lizard has evolved is so incredibly unique that I simply had to study them!
In addition to my own personal motives, my advisor, Mr. Eastburn, was pushing for me to study green anoles. He owned a few as class pets when he taught elementary school, and loved them. He had also been wanting to do research into why they change color, but had never gotten around to it. Not to mention, the time when a story of his student finding a live green anole in her salad swept the nation.
When I went back to Florida for this past spring break with my family, I was finding anoles all over the place yet again (I was able to catch them much easier this time)! This experience only cemented my excitement about this research, and I cannot wait until I can begin working with the anoles and can learn about their unique biology!
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