Here are some photos from Barataria Preserve in southern Louisiana. I took them last summer and thought I’d shared some of the images before, but perhaps not. There are actually a few good ones in here! 
Chameleon or some kind of lizard Anole
And the Barataria Preserve photo album.
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:51 pm
It depends who you ask. In the pet store, that would be sold as a chameleon, but it’s actually actually an anole. I’m not sure I’ve seen a true chameleon outside the zoo.
Both critters change colors to match their backgrounds (though they really just do brown and green to match leaves, not plaid to match the couch like you see in cartoons). A chameleon has a rounder head with eyes that stick out a bit more versus the anole’s more angular head.
The ridges in your photo aren’t something you see very often in the anoles from the pet store. The anoles have them, but the ridge only forms when the anole is warm and needs to radiate some heat. The dark colors around the eyes are also something I’ve only seen when they’re warm.
From first-hand experience, I can tell you that anoles are pretty easy pets.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Very cool – thanks for the info! I’m used to the brown ones and didn’t think about this guy being related.
This guy’s ridges – I don’t know if they were out for heat radiation as you say, or perhaps because he was about to fight with another anole for territory on the fence.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:55 pm
It could be a territorial thing as well. The only time I ever saw my anoles (Hyde and Zeke) with ridges was when they were out on a sunny windowsill. That’s also the only time they ever acted particularly aggressive toward one another. (They did act aggressively toward meal worms most of the time – tearing them apart – but that’s a pretty normal thing to do with food.)