• Gee the Green Anole in Tootie’s Backyard.

Gee

the Green Anole

Gee is a green anole lizard who lives in Tootie’s backyard year round.

Gee hangs out in the bushes and small trees around Tootie’s backyard. Occasionally, Tootie and Yoshi see him as he scurries along the windowsill of their room or as he scurries between plants. They sometimes have trouble finding him because he camouflages with the green leaves so well.

You can identify Gee by his green or brown head, back, legs, and tail, his white belly, and his slender body.

Gee’s Home

Gee was born in the ground when his egg, one of seven in the clutch – a group of eggs laid at once, hatched.

When his egg hatched in June, Gee and his siblings each survived on their own, as their mom left after she buried their eggs.

Gee is an arboreal lizard, meaning he lives in bushes and tree branches throughout Tootie’s yard.

He climbs tree trunks and bushes easily and quickly and is at home in the treetops.

Like most lizards and other reptiles, Gee is a solitary animal, who lives alone.

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Learn more about Gee.

Gee’s Hobbies

Gee is diurnal, meaning he is active during the day. He’s the most active during the spring, summer, and early autumn.

Gee will avoid predators by camouflaging against healthy leaves or by changing to a brown color to camouflage when he’s on a limb or in dirt.

When Gee is territorial, he can extend a red throat fan called a dewlap to warn other anoles to go away.

In the winter, Gee spends most of his time hidden under tree bark to stay warm. On warmer, sunny days during the winter, he comes out to bask in the sun to absorb some of its heat.

During the winter, Gee is much slower than he is during the warmer months of the year.

His lackluster winter energy is because, as a reptile, he’s cold-blooded and an ectotherm, meaning that his body temperature is affected by the temperature of his surroundings.

What was Gee doing when you saw him in your backyard?

Gee’s Diet

Gee is an insectivore, a subcategory of the carnivore diet. His diet is meat-based, and he mostly eats bugs. Gee captures live bugs every day because his system burns a lot of protein.

His favorite foods are crickets, flies, grasshoppers, and spiders, but he will also eat seeds, grains, and nuts, although not as often.

He will also occasionally eat baby lizards, especially baby skinks, although he prefers bugs to other animals.

Gee hunts using a combination of stationary and ambush tactics, alternating between waiting for prey to get close enough that he can capture them without moving and leaping forward to capture prey.

What other animals do you know that are insectivores?

Activities

Crossword


1. Type of diet that means an animal eats mostly bugs.
2. Red sacs that anoles extend when they're territorial.
3. Where you might find a Gee.
4. Type of animal Gee is.
5. How Gee hides.
6. Color Gee can turn.
7. Month Gee was born.
8. Word that describes an animal that lives in trees.
9. Hunting tactic Gee sometimes uses.
10. An animal whose body temperature is affected by its surroundings.