by Fonti Kar | Jun 27, 2018 | Behaviour, Cognition, Egernia, Publications, Social intelligence, Sociality, Tree skink project
By: Fonti Kar & Julia Riley “Never study an animal that is smarter than you” – Dr Martin Whiting Animals learn about their environment and use what they have learnt while foraging, to increase mating success, avoid predators, and overall increase their...
by Fonti Kar | Sep 6, 2017 | Animal signals, Cognition, Communication, Water skink project
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?...
by Whiting | Jan 4, 2017 | Cognition, Tree skink project
Take a listen to Julia Riley discussing our latest publication on the influence of social environment on learning in tree skinks (Egernia striolata). The interview was with Marc Fennell on ABC radio. This work, led by Julia, has been published in Animal Cognition:...
by Riley | Dec 30, 2016 | Cognition, Egernia, Herpetology, Publications, Social behaviour, Tree skink project
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...
by Whiting | Aug 10, 2014 | Cognition, PhD opportunity, Social behaviour, Social intelligence
We are looking for a PhD student to work on an Australian Research Council grant testing for social intelligence in Egernia skinks. Here is some background: Uncovering the evolution of intelligence is one of science’s greatest challenges. Social intelligence theory...
by Whiting | Jul 27, 2014 | Cane toad cognition, Cognition, Lab news, Social behaviour, Tree skink project
We have acquired an amazing new indoor space in which we can study lizard and toad behaviour and cognition. We have a small room for a Morris Water Maze for studying spatial cognition (ably set up by Jodie Gruber), a much larger room with lots of shelves and CCTV...
