- [Coyote] Guys, I got an iguana.
- [Voiceover] Yep. - [Coyote] Little one.
Yeah see, check it out, right there.
He's sleeping right in the crux of that tree.
- [Voiceover] Oh nice.
- [Coyote] You see him?
- [Voiceover] Yeah, he really sticks out.
- [Coyote] Oh no wait, it's not,
it's a knight anole,
it's a Cuban knight anole.
Holy cow, I've never caught one of these before.
- [Voiceover] That's not an iguana?
- [Coyote] No, you got a shot on him?
- [Voiceover] Yeah.
(dramatic music)
Go for it, see if you can get him.
Oh nice.
- [Coyote] Shoot, I got the back of his leg.
He's in the vines.
Argh.
I got him, I got him.
There we go.
Whew! - [Voiceover] Nice!
- [Coyote] Look at that!
Wow!
- [Voiceover] Awesome grab.
- That is a Cuban knight anole.
I have never, oh man,
I'm stuck in these thorns.
Holy mackerel.
Now, this is an invasive species here in south Florida.
I thought it was an iguana.
As you can see, their backside,
oh, oh, oh, nope, no biting.
No biting.
The backside, just hanging down like that in a tree,
looks just like the green iguana,
but if you take a good look at that head,
it looks like a green anole on steroids.
Look at that dewlap.
Whew!
- [Voiceover] Woah.
- That is pretty crazy.
Now, you hear the name Cuban knight anole
and you think to yourself,
oh well, he's probably really active at night.
Actually, this is a diurnal species,
so I caught him sleeping right now up in that tree.
If this was the during the day,
he'd be moving much, much quicker.
Now you notice the head
kinda looks like the head of a chameleon.
Now these lizards are from Cuba,
and are invasive here in south Florida.
What these anoles are out here hunting for
is pretty much anything they can come across.
Very opportunistic, but they primarily feed
on other lizards.
And their tongue does stick out,
but it can't shoot out like a chameleon,
and it is very sticky.
It's almost like there's glue on the tip of it.
How cool is that?
And he's not too keen on biting.
Oh!
Nope, yes he is.
Ouch.
Wow, those teeth are super sharp.
I've been putting my tip of my finger on his tongue,
and he didn't wanna bite me,
but if I put my finger sideways into his mouth,
that is a different story.
And he is definitely latched on.
(panting in pain) Wow, he bites harder
than the collared lizard does.
Goodness gracious.
- [Voiceover] Are you serious?
- Oh yeah, ah that hurts.
All right, I'm gonna just kinda,
aw, oh, (laughs) oh man.
I did not think that he was gonna bite
when I was actually gonna show you guys
look how non prone to biting this lizard is.
And now he's, ow, oh,
yeah, latched to my finger.
And I think you got a shot
of those little teeth, didn't you?
- [Voiceover] Yeah. - [Coyote] Yeah.
(laughing) Oh man, they are sharp.
And I have fire ant bites all over my fingers right now,
and he is chomping down on those.
Ah OK, let go.
- [Voiceover] I think he likes the aloe vera.
- Oh oh, ow, jeez.
Man.
Look at that mark he put in my finger.
He chomped me good.
OK, let's take a look at the skin on this lizard.
And you can see
that it's very bright green.
Absolutely beautiful, but it's kind of matte as well,
which is how we were able to spot this lizard
amongst all the shiny leaves.
Our flashlight beams just kinda bounced right off of him,
and he stood out like a sore thumb.
But he feels like suede.
This is actually one of the softest lizards
I think I've ever pet.
These lizards are excellent climbers.
I'm gonna turn him around like this for you.
And let's take a look at those feet.
Now they do have claws,
but one really interesting unique feature
that this lizard also has
is pads on the bottom of its toes like a gecko.
And that's why when I was trying to grab him
out of the vines, he was able to hold on so well.
And each one of these little claws
is like a fish hook.
Can you see that?
Which makes it the perfect predator
in any treetop environment.
Well how cool is that?
My first time ever catching the Cuban knight anole.
Very awesome.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild,
we'll see you on the next adventure.
If you thought that was one wild adventure,
check out the time I got my finger stuck
in the mouth of a collared lizard.
And don't forget, subscribe to join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
Holy cow, all right, um woah,
those teeth are super sharp.