Kelly and I visited Oahu, Hawaii this January. To the surprise of most, there are no native reptiles or amphibians in Hawaii. There are, however, 17 invasive species that have done very well for themselves. These include the Jackson’s Chameleon, which would be very cool to see, but upon doing some research … it’s not worth it. They life in disturbed secondary forest, which is the technical term for “backyard” or “shrubs behind the Burger King”. I’d like to see one of course, but that’s not why I herp. To me, seeing an invasive species crawl around someone’s landscaping is not any different than seeing one in a pet store. Let’s go back to the beach.
We did see a couple species of gecko, and brown anoles were everywhere in town. The pictures aren’t the best, as my preferred lens for these type of shots was killed by a wave while I was taking pictures of a crab. Whoops.
Tags: Anolis sagrei, Brown Anole, Hawaii, Lepidodactylus lugubris, Mourning Gecko, Oahu, Reptiles of Hawaii