By Fonti Kar, on September 6th, 2017
Note: this blog post is republished from Fonti’s web site
Dominant individuals tend to have greater monopoly over food and mates and therefore have more offspring compared to subordinate individuals. Are these successes attributed to greater cognitive ability? Or are dominant individuals just better at freeloading from their clever subordinate counterparts?
We investigated . . . → Read More: Brains and Brawn: dominant lizards are better learners too!
By Whiting, on July 20th, 2016
by Fonti Kar
Animals often find themselves in direct competition with other individuals for resources and mates. Because fighting is costly, many species honestly signal their fighting ability to avoid injury (non-escalated fights). For example, in flat lizards (Platysaurus broadleyi), males can resolve dominance status by displaying their UV-reflective throats to their opponent. . . . → Read More: Why do winners keep winning?
By Noble, on June 21st, 2014
By Dan Noble
When it comes to animal athletics lizards have been model systems for exploring the relationships between ecology and physical performance. Our two recent papers, one in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society and the second in Behavioral Ecology add to the growing list of studies looking at functional performance in lizards.
Eastern water . . . → Read More: Athletic lizards: Sex, hormones, and physical performance
By Whiting, on March 25th, 2014
Followers of the Lizard Lab blog will have read previous reports about relatively rapid learning in lizards. In those studies we typically focused on males or avoided drawing comparisons between the sexes because either the sample size was limited or the focus of the study was different. In our latest paper we decided the . . . → Read More: Sex, boldness and learning in a lizard
By Whiting, on November 4th, 2013
By Dan Noble
Sexual selection – the differential reproductive success of individuals – is a powerful evolutionary force. Sexual selection can lead to evolution of both beautiful and bizarre phenotypes, such as peacock trains, deer antlers and the complex displays and bright colours of many lizards. Although we see these tell-tail signs of sexual . . . → Read More: A lizard’s guide to mating: Alternative reproductive tactics give males an edge in finding the ladies
By Whiting, on December 20th, 2012
The Reptile Living Room interviewed Lizard Lab member Dan Noble about our recent Biology Letters paper on spatial cognition in Eastern Water skinks. Here’s what he had to say:
By Whiting, on October 18th, 2012
For anyone interested in comparative cognition, these are exciting times and 2012 has been a good year for lizards! Manuel Leal and Robert Powell’s study of Anolis cognition demonstrated that lizards are capable of behavioural flexibility. (Behavioural flexibility, a key feature of advanced cognition, is the ability to solve a novel problem, or develop . . . → Read More: Hot off the press! “Learning outdoors: male lizards show flexible spatial learning under semi-natural conditions”
By Whiting, on June 1st, 2011
On Monday, Kerrie (Wechmann, that is), handed in her honours thesis! And with this, she is the first member of the Australian branch of the Lizard Lab to hand in a thesis of any shape or form. Well done Kerrie! A big celebration is planned. Kerrie did a paternity study examining the influence of . . . → Read More: Kerrie hands in her honours thesis!
By Noble, on December 10th, 2010
Yes, that’s right, the first of our Water Skink (Eulamprus quoyii) babies have made their way into the world. Although it is earlier then expected, these little cuties are doing all the cool stuff their parents do. Little head bobs, chowing down on crickets and even biting their captors!
The brothers and sisters!
. . . → Read More: Baby boom in the Lizard Lab!
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