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Birgit recently gave a public lecture about her research on lizard cognition at a mini-conference “The Future of Herpetology, Inspiring Women and Forgotten Frogs: A conference promoting women’s voices in herpetology”. Watch her talk (below) and find out more about Birgit and her work on her web page. Dr. Birgit Szabo talking about . . . → Read More: Dr. Birgit Szabo talks lizard smarts! The latest edition of Australian Geographic features the iconic Australian Frill-necked Lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingii). A big part of the article, written by John Pickrell, features our own Christian Alessandro Perez-Martinez! And the top of the page features his photo (reproduced at left). Well done Christian! Have a read of the article. The paper, . . . → Read More: Australian Geographic features frilled lizard work!  Comments are closed  Animal signals, Anti-predator behaviour, Behaviour  Christian Alesandro Perez-Martinez, deimatic display, frilled lizard, Frilly, lizard, Lizard Lab, reptile By: Fonti Kar & Julia Riley “Never study an animal that is smarter than you” – Dr Martin Whiting An adult female tree skink after performing the discrimination task we used to quantify their learning ability – she successfully removed the blue lid from this dish and accessed the food reward . . . → Read More: Tree skinks go to school: The complexities of social learning in lizards Comments are closed Behaviour, Cognition, Egernia, Publications, Social intelligence, Sociality, Tree skink project Egernia striolata, Fonti Kar, herpetology, Julia Riley, lizard, social intelligence, social learning, sociality, The Lizard Lab, tree skink Animals often instinctively assess their environment, and display innate behavioural responses. For example, many newly born reptiles and fish know how to respond to predators – knowing when to “fight” and when to “flee” – right after hatching out of their eggs! Innate behavioural responses, especially in times of peril, may be the difference . . . → Read More: Up for a fight or doing a runner, for a lizard it could be in their genes There was some interest in our recent paper on bluetongue lizards (blueys) and why they have this amazing blue tongue, which is actually a UV-blue tongue. (See our previous blog post.) Here is an interview from ABC news: Helen Shield interviews Martin Whiting on ABC radio, Hobart (nation wide). 11 June 2018. http://whitinglab.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ABC_radio_11.6.2018-1.mp3 . . . → Read More: The Bluetongue interviews Comments are closed Behaviour, Bluetongue lizard, Bluetongue skink, Uncategorized ABC news, ABC radio, Arnaud Badiane, Gemma Veness, Helen Shield, Pau Carazo, Tiliqua scincoides An enduring question among fans of blue-tongue lizards is why the blue tongue? Why have such an outrageously coloured tongue, given that the vast majority of lizards have a regular old pink tongue? Blueys (bluetongue skinks) are something of an Australian icon. They are part of Australian folklore and most Australians have encountered them . . . → Read More: Why blue tongue? A potential deimatic display has been uncovered in blue-tongue skinks Comments are closed Anti-predator behaviour, Behaviour, Bluetongue lizard, Bluetongue skink, Colour, Communication, Deimatic display anti-predator behaviour, Arnaud Badiane, bluetongue lizard, bluetongue skink, deimatic display, Kate Umbers, Lizard Lab, Pau Carazo, Sarah Campbell, Sergio Naretto, The Lizard Lab, Tiliqua scincoides It’s been a very busy year, which explains why I am only now writing this blog post from my trip to China earlier this year (May-June). I had the amazing opportunity of seeing one of the world’s most endangered lizards—the crocodile lizard (Shinisaurus crocodilurus), in the wild, and working with one of the largest . . . → Read More: Dispatches from the field: new adventures with endangered crocodile lizards and oriental garden lizards Imagine being a frog during the chaos of the breeding season and navigating the gathering crowds around the pond. How do you know who might be a suitable mate let alone whether they are male or female? One solution is colour. If one sex, typically males, is able to turn on some bright colour . . . → Read More: Turn up the colour: male frogs use bright colours to avoid confusion at the pond Comments are closed Animal signals, Behaviour, Colour, Communication, Frog colour change, dynamic sexual dichromatism, frog, Grant Webster, Litoria revelata, Litoria wilcoxii, Rayna Bell, The Lizard Lab By Jodie Gruber The cane toad (Rhinella marina) has been spreading rapidly across northern Australia since its introduction to control sugar cane beetles in 1935. While toads have been the focus of considerable research, we still have a poor understanding of how behavioiural traits vary across the range, particularly with respect to traits that . . . → Read More: Hot off the press! Toads at the invasion front are more prone to explore and take risks Comments are closed Behaviour, Cane toads Cane toad, Invasive species, Jodie Gruber, Lizard Lab, personality, The Lizard Lab 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? |
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