NO. 3B95 ANOLIS LINEATOPUS — RAND 17 



Habitat Requirements 



The three main habitat requirements, perch, cover, and sleeping 

 site, must be satisfied in some way or other within the home range of 

 each A. lineatopiis. These features of the habitat are essential to the 

 operation of the normal behavior patterns that enable ^4. lineatoiyus 

 to satisfy its fundamental requirements and also important to those 

 associated with social behavior and reproduction. It is probably 

 these habitat requirements that are used as cues in habitat selection 

 by A. lineatopus. 



Harris (1964), writing on Agama agama in Nigeria, states: "Three 

 important structural components the environment must provide are: 

 (a) suitable display posts, (b) a roosting place and (c) conveniently 

 situated refuges from predators" (p. 132). These categories are 

 almost identical to those used herein for ^4. lineatopus though the 

 structures in the habitat that satisfy these demands are quite difl"erent. 



Perches. — An A. lineatopus spends its days waiting on one or 

 another of its perches. From its perch the lizard sees most of the 

 prey which it catches, most of the other lizards which it courts or 

 chases, and most of the predators from which it flees, and it is from 

 its perch that most of its display is given. The perch also provides a 

 sunning site and usually shade as well. 



A Ande variety of objects are used as perches, among them trees, 

 fence posts, rocks, walls of houses, bushes, and hedgerows. The large 

 majority of ^. lineatopus seen were within six feet of the ground, and 

 relatively few were seen on slender twigs and branches. In general, 

 adult males perch farther from the ground and on larger diameter 

 perches than do smaller individuals, which are usually seen in bushes, 

 hedges, and brush piles very close to the ground and which seem to 

 avoid the large trees and fence posts, etc., that the adults prefer. 

 Collette (1961) describes shnilar intraspecific differences in perch 

 preference in A. sagrei and ^1. porcatus. Intraspecific difl'erences 

 between juvenile and adult habitats seem widespread in iguanids 

 (see p. 9) (For a more detailed discussion of perches, see Rand, 

 in press). The sorts of perches that are occupied most commonly are 

 herehi called preferred perches, and those that were occupied less 

 frequently are referred to as less or subpreferable. 



The same individual may be seen on the same perch da}^ after day; 

 most, if not all, lizards use only one or a few perches as the center 

 for theh' activity. Blair (1960) noted similar behavior in Sceloporus 

 olivaceus, particularly in tlie females. Anolis lineatojms may spend 

 most of its time on only a small part of one percli, as O'Brien et al 

 (1965) describe for Sceloporus undulatus. I have called tlie perch or 

 perches where an individual spent most of its time its "usual" perch or 

 perches. 



240-241—67 2 



