Lizards, reptiles and Perhaps Other, May Be More Than clever we Realize. In a new study, tropical lizards devised Creative Ways to get at a hidden treat of dead larvae, and Adapted Remembered Them What they'd Learned to continue snagging thesis baby bug snacks.
"This is one more piece of the puzzle That Can Help Us Understand the evolution of Cognitive Abilities," Said Duke University behavioral ecologist Manuel Leal, the lead researcher of the study. "We know a lot based on studies of birds and mammals, There Have Been goal FEW studies on reptiles in general."
Flexible behavior - Behavior That Can Be Adapted to Meet a Particular situation - is associated with higher-level cognitive Abilities, In Other Words, more smarts.Scientists Have Believed animals with complex social structures with gold Changing diets Developed more Flexibility, and higher-level cognitive Possibly Abilities Through evolution.
Most lizards, however, are territorial That dwellers live alone and munch on the food Sami year round, Mostly insects, so it has-been ASSUMED THEY That, Like Others reptiles, limited brain power and Have Relatively fixed Behaviors. [10 Animals That Use Tools]
Leal and His colleagues Gave six Anolis lizards from Puerto Rico Evermann a challenge: a dead insect larva Snatch Hidden Under a Distinctively colored plastic disk. Four of the six lizards devised Ways to remove the treat. [See the video]
"Individuals solved this problem in different Ways," Leal said. "Some Will bite the edge of the disk.Their snout Others Will use as a lift. "
When disks of Other Were Introduced Distinctly different colors, the oven lizards Continued to concentrate on the disk They Were familiar with, Most Likely homing in on the colors socialworkdegreesonline.net__lcsw-counseling.html. (Lizards' color vision IS Keener Than Our Own.)
Then the Researchers could treat the Under One of the Other disks, Two of the lizards figured out this switch and Continued to locate the treats.
The lizards' WAS performance comparable to similar studies in birds, the Researchers Said, with one notable difference.Birds Would Perform the task multiple times in a day, drank Because lizards are cold blooded and do not get as hungry Often, only one trial THEY Completed per day - Meaning That THEY HAD tricks to remember Their disk from one day to the next.
The lizards' performance Indicate That Theys, and reptiles in general Perhaps, can learn Relatively Quickly, though slow moving Than They Are warm-blooded animals like birds.It aussi Indicate That Other than factoring complex social structure and a diverse diet influence the evolution of May Behavior flexible and more advanced cognitive Ability, Leal said.
In looking at the evolution of cognition, scientists aussi Need to look at Other groups, like reptiles and fish, He Said.
The study by Leal and Brian Powell of Duke University aussi, IS Detailed This Week in The Journal of the Royal Society: Biology Letters.
You Can follow LiveScience Senior Writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @ Wynne_Parry. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and Discoveries on Twitter and on Facebook @ LiveScience.
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