Psychobiology of Lizard Reproduction 
155 
Table 1. Displays (Aggression, Assertion-Challenge, Courtship, and Submission) of male 
Anolis carolinensis in laboratory populations and their identifying characteristics. 
DISPLAY 
AGGRESSION 
ASSERTION- 
CHALLENGE 
COURTSHIP 
SUBMISSION 
CONTEXT 
performed by 
dominant male 
toward strange 
lizard or toward 
displaying male 
performed by 
dominant male 
after aggressive 
bout or when 
reaching favorite 
perch; occasionally 
seen when animal 
alone in cage 
response to 
female, also 
performed 
toward any 
lizard giving 
submission 
display 
response to 
the approach, 
assertion-challenge 
display, or courtship 
display by a 
dominant lizard 
ORIENTATION 
laterally oriented 
towards recipient 
oriented towards 
recipient ; also per- 
formed with no ap- 
parent orientation 
variable; usually 
90-45° toward 
recipient 
variable 
POSTURE 
laterally 
compressed 
laterally compressed 
relaxed 
relaxed 
PATTERN 
rapid, jerking 
movement of 
whole body 
rhythmical bobbing 
with forepart of 
body 
rhythmical bobbing 
with forepart of 
body 
rapid nodding 
of head only 
MOVEMENT 
circular 
none, display 
stationary 
approaches other 
lizard, stopping 
to display 
none, display 
stationary 
MODIFIERS 
nuchal and dorsal 
crests erected, 
throat engorged, 
formation of black 
spot behind eye, 
jaw gaping and 
locking 
dewlap extended, 
crests and eyespot 
diminished 
dewlap extended, 
no crest or 
eyespot 
none 
male aggression to assertion displays by the 
emerging dominant followed by a general 
decline in their frequency. At the same time, 
there is an increase in the male-female court- 
ship behavior (only the dominant male 
courts). By the end of the second week, the 
first mating usually occurs. 
In the group in which females were ex- 
posed to the previously environmentally 
induced sexually active males (see Fig. 4), 
there was a constant high level of male-male 
aggression for the entire 6 weeks. In addi- 
tion, no single male became dominant over 
the other males in the cage and no copula- 
tions occurred in the 6-week period of obser- 
vation. In the few instances in which court- 
ship did occur, the courting male had time to 
complete only one or two courtship displays 
before its behavior attracted other males and 
a male-male fight would erupt. In the cas- 
trated male group, neither male-male agres- 
sion nor courtship was ever observed. 
Thus, it was unclear from the results of 
this experiment whether the different pat- 
terns of environmentally induced ovarian 
activity were due to the males’ performance 
of particular behavior patterns or attribut- 
able to a more general complex of male- 
related stimuli. There was the suggestion, 
though, from my observations, that male 
courtship might facilitate the environmental 
induction of ovarian activity while aggres- 
sion between males might be responsible for 
the inhibition of environmentally induced 
OR. 
Therefore, in a third experiment, winter- 
dormant females were exposed, in a more 
systematic manner, either (1) to predomi- 
nantly male-male aggression for 6 weeks, 
(2) to 3 weeks of predominantly male-male 
aggression followed by 3 weeks of predomi- 
nantly male courtship, or (3) to 3 weeks of 
predominantly male courtship followed by 3 
weeks of predominantly male-male aggres- 
