Swierk has studied diving anoles for nearly a decade, teaming up in 2021 with other researchers to describe bubble-breathing behavior across multiple species of semiaquatic lizards in the Anolis genus.
“A lot of collaborations have emerged from some pretty basic questions — just a lot of us watching these videos, wondering how it happens, why it happens,” she told CNN.
For the new study, Swierk investigated the species Anolis aquaticus, which lives near forest streams in southwestern Costa Rica and western Panama. Swierk found that bubble formation directly affected how long an anole could stay submerged. During experiments, bubble-breathing anoles remained underwater for 3 ½ minutes on average. It was about 32% longer than anoles that were prevented — through the application of an emollient to parts of their heads — from forming air bubbles.
“They can lengthen their dives by using these breathing bubbles,” Swierk said.
