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
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 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 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! We are looking for a highly motivated and suitably qualified candidate to conduct a PhD program of research on reptile visual ecology, commencing in 2017. The successful applicant will be guided to develop a project to investigate the visual performance and ecological adaptations of a range of lizard species with differing life history traits. . . . → Read More: PhD opportunity – visual ecology of lizards Comments are closed PhD opportunity Lizard Lab, Lizard visual ecology, PhD opportunity, PhD scholarship Recently, myself and collaborators published our study that found – social experience has a crucial role in development of a family-living lizard. We also discovered that despite their social nature, the Australian tree skink (Egernia striolata) does not necessarily thrive in a ‘share-house’ environment. Egernia striolata from Gluepot, South Australia Group- and family-living . . . → Read More: Hot off the press! Roommates are not all they’re cracked up to be (if you’re a lizard) Comments are closed Egernia, Sociality, Tree skink project Egernia striolata, Julia Riley, lizard, Lizard Lab, social behaviour, social development 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 Julia Riley A family-living lizard’s ability to navigate through a complex maze is not linked to how they were raised We have found that the learning ability of the Tree Skink, a lizard that lives with family, is not linked to growing up with others. These lizards were . . . → Read More: Skinks and Ladders: A family-living lizard’s learning ability is not affected by their home environment Comments are closed Cognition, Egernia, Herpetology, Publications, Social behaviour, Tree skink project cognition, Egernia striolata, Julia Riley, lizard, Lizard Lab, The Lizard Lab, tree skink Lizard Lab word cloud based on titles and key words from about 35 recent papers. Martin made this instead of working on an important research grant. It somehow seemed much more fun at the time. It does nicely sum up the research in the lab . . . → Read More: Lizard Lab word cloud While there are snakes that have been shown to be territorial in an ecological context, such as Taiwanese kukrisnakes which defend sea turtle nests (citation below), territoriality in a sexual selection context has never been demonstrated in a snake. Until now. Jonno Webb has been studying broadheaded and small-eyed snakes in Morton National Park, . . . → Read More: Territoriality in a snake Comments are closed Lab news, Publications, Small-eyed snake behaviour, Cryptophis nigrescens, Elapidae, Jonathan Webb, Lizard Lab, Mitch Scott, residency, Rick Shine, small-eyed snake, territory Marco Barquero’s hard work has paid off! For his PhD, Marco travelled far and wide in his quest to study signalling in Jacky Dragons. Chapter 1 has just been published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Marco studied three populations for which we had genetic data (thanks to Mitzy Pepper and Scott Keogh at . . . → Read More: Jacky Dragons have labile displays and don’t discriminate among populations Comments are closed Animal signals, Behaviour, Visual ecology animal signal, Jacky dragon, Lizard Lab, Marco Barquero, Richard Peters, signal evolution |
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