Ameiva exsul behavior question

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
Halfondlizards
Posts: 1
Joined: September 19th, 2016, 3:31 pm

Ameiva exsul behavior question

Post by Halfondlizards »

This past Jan2016 we visited Puerto Rico and stayed in San Juan house with concrete patio in rear of property. There,we found friendly,large population of Ameiva exsul living under patio,(they are called "iguanas" in PR). One sunny day we observed the following strange behavior: It was aprox 12Noon when all the Ameiva exsul under patio started coming out. They all congregated near each other in same area, near middle of yard. What we also found 'strange' is that they were ALL facing the same direction. In this case, it was North. They just stood there, not moving, not interacting,even though they were near each other...Their heads & faces tilted up to the sky. We've seen Ameivas exsul in the Island before many times before , but never this type of behavior. Unfortunately , we were so surprised by this gathering , that we forgot to take photos. We observed for aprox 10mns and then had to leave. Not sure how long it lasted. Does anyone out there know what this behavior was about ?
The other observation we have (but do not have questions about) is that all the colonies seem to have a separate,'hidden' entrance/exit for the very young ones. Many times we observed adult ameivas in a colony "reprimand" or correct a young one that tries to come in adult entrance. The adults swiftly give abrupt or forceful chase to the little one until it heads to "correct" entrance.
Thank you for reading our post. We'll appreciate any comments or information . Halfondlizards
User avatar
Kelly Mc
Posts: 4529
Joined: October 18th, 2011, 1:03 pm

Re: Ameiva exsul behavior question

Post by Kelly Mc »

It probably had very little with looking out in the same direction.

It was more likely the aspect of sunlight at bask angle that positioned favorable exposure to wavelengths.
Post Reply