The Phylogenetic Tree of Anole Lizards — HHMI BioInteractive Video

Biologist Jonathan Losos describes the traits that enable anole lizard species to live in their various habitats. In this educational video, join Dr. Losos on his quest to understand evolution by natural selection.

Explore the evolutionary path of the green anole lizards found in the Caribbean. Discover how the different species have evolved traits adapted to their environments and developed into distinct species.

[LokheeNyx]

"Lives in the grasses and bushes. And it's called a 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔-𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒆." That literally made me die with laughter

[gijijia]

I was forced to watch this for school but I gotta say this was pretty cool

[Ohmakie]

My teacher really said "don't look at all the comments from the students mad at their bio teacher for making them watch this. ITS A VERY VIDEO"

[reecerodriguez]

We had to watch this for my Biology 115 Lab at Rider University. I really do have to say this was not only extremely interesting but informative as well. I love it!!!

[zawarudo]

I came here cause I have to watch this for my bio class but it was actually really interesting!

[bluejay]

Nobody:

These scientists: gonna terrorize some lizards today <3

[juliaaaaaa]

I like many others was also forced to watch this for school

[NewMessage]

Anoles are to this day my favorite lizards. I fell in love with them in my teens, and even after decades working with reptiles and amphibians (and everything from ants to primates), they remain my absolute favs.

[straks]

A few years ago we found a green anole in our backyard and kept him ever since.
(his name is Gus)

[alex-fotn]

i watched this for AP bio in high school and now I'm in college watching it again for a take-home final :)

[dinosouth]

Great video. So many Biology concepts in the one video. Explained really well and good graphics. Observable Natural Selection! Great Channel

[zekehowey]

I don't think anyone came here voluntarily.

[patriciahernandez]

I was sitting in my patio in Puerto Rico and suddenly realized how many lizards there were and wondered: what is their story? How did they end up here?. I’m legit so happy I found this video. I’m from Puerto Rico and had never heard about this evolutionary story. Thank you for making me appreciate the natural fauna around me a bit more! Was not expecting the video to be specifically on the lizards I saw in my yard so that was super cool coincidence!!!

[TheLoobis]

7:30 three visits over three years and these guys were wearing the exact same clothes?

[Jebiwibiwabo]

i live in south florida (miami), there are anoles everwhere, and easily one of my favorite lizard species, great vid

[subinyoon]

I watched this for a class assignment and it was actually really fun and intuitive. Thank you for the great video.

[GuiGFreitas]

That's just a great production, a clear example of evolution and it's mechanisms!
Helped me a lot learning about lizards for a series of Drawing studies I"m about to make! :)

[markscohier]

I came here voluntarily. Fascinating little documentary.

[andrewlarson]

1:20 "Safley Catches Them" literally snares it by the neck

[naturalexandra]

This is known as a beautiful example of adaptive radiation, and it is a biogeographical evidence of evolution. Adaptive radiation happens when an ancestral population diverges into a number of different lineages (in this case, different species) with distinct adaptive traits, in this case, morphological and ecological. Each body type of the anoles within an island descended from a common ancestor. We infer that on each island (we can think that each one contained similar environmental conditions and therefore similar selective pressures) an ancestral anole population with enough genetic variation, after many generations, at a big time scale evolved into different species. The most wonderful finding about this study is that natural selection (the mechanism of adaptive evolution) generated very similar results independently between islands. :)