Rainforest reminiscences 7: The Amazon monkey anole

Of the many wonderful lizards in the rainforest of the Peruvian Amazon region, the persistently arboreal Amazon monkey anole, Polychrus marmoratus, is one that we are always very happy to find.

It is not an uncommon lizard, but it is so well camouflaged that it can be difficult to see. Although diurnal, as most of the related anoles are, rather than moving about in bursts of speed as the anoles are wont to do, when the monkey anole moves it is in a stealthy, hand-over-hand method reminiscent of the movement of true chameleons.

But with that said, the monkey anole is just as apt to sit quietly and depend upon its camouflage to avoid detection. The color is of some shade of green (occasionally bluish green) and there are broad paler bands that are edged in black. This medium sized lizard attains an adult size of about 14 inches, but the semi-prehensile tail accounts for two-thirds of that length.

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.