Finding Animals in Unexpected Places: Disney World Part 1

I haven't posted anything on "herping" (finding reptiles and amphibians in the wild) yet. I thought I would start out with one of my favorite aspects of herping: finding herps in unexpected places. I really love finding any animal in an unexpected place. When you go out looking for an animal, or when you are in an environment where you expect to find a certain animal, it is cool enough when you spot a critter. But I think it is even cooler when you find animals in unusual or unexpected places. On our honeymoon trip to Disney World, for example, we found all sorts of interesting animals.

If I were to ask someone, "what sort of wild creatures would you expect me to find in Disney World"? Their first response would probably be seagulls and ducks (or mice, if they were trying to be cute). If they had been to Disney World before, they might say, "Egrets, Ibis, and little lizards (or anoles, if they knew about reptiles)". We found all of these animals in huge numbers on our trip without having to really look. I will start with these guys.

This photo was taken just before the duck decided my husband's camera strap was food (he did attempt to eat it, but H moved away just in time).

Aww! Duckling!

This is a brown anole.
Despite the fact that they are pretty easy to find, people don't seem to notice them.

This is an Egret. They seem to hang around the turkey leg carts at Disney World.

This is an ibis

So all of these animals are pretty common in Disney World. The reason why I am including them is because people don't seem to think they will find any sort of wild creature (besides the usual ducks and seagulls) on their vacation to a theme park.

It is hard to go an entire trip to Disney World without seeing ducks, seagulls, ibis, and egrets. But I did include one animal on this list that, while abundant, can be difficult to find. The brown anole.

Brown anoles are invasive to Florida. They compete with the Carolina Anole (AKA the green anole), which is native to Florida. 

The anoles seem to like resting on concrete and stone (anything that gets warm). I always find them on concrete dividers and stone benches around Disney World. I have also spotted them on trees and on the ground. They are very fast, so don't expect to catch them without a lizard noose. My husband (who has quite a bit of experience in this area) had a difficult time catching one. 

Since I am on the subject of anoles, I will mention the green anole. We only had a few confirmed green anole sightings on the entire trip. We always found them in bushes or trees. Here are some photos of a green anole we caught on the trip. 

                           

                       

That is it for part 1. Next time, I will talk about critters that are a little harder to find. Part 2 will include the pig frog, the southern toad, the florida softshell turtle, the mediterranean gecko, and a handful of other turtle species.