This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Like Tom Cruise in a movie about an impossible mission, Green and Brown Anoles are great climbers and sometimes have to hang on for dear life. If you travel to the Caribbean, you’ll no doubt find these tiny lizards. They’re everywhere! Anoles have adapted to their environment with active camouflage and exceptionally sticky toes. However, last year’s devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean stripped bare and uprooted many trees. You might think that anoles couldn’t survive, but you would be wrong. They’ve been around since before the dinosaurs, after all! Researchers have observed shorter hind-legs and larger toes in survivors meaning that anoles are likely to hang on through another tempestuous season. Let’s hear it for survival of the fittest.

With thanks to Aron Muci for this text, from the KU Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here!