by Whiting | Nov 10, 2013 | Animal signals, China field work, Communication
Read our latest lab post on CNN iReporter to see video of a Chinese toad-headed agama taking charge of a researcher (name withheld). Note that there are two videos. The better video is the second one, behind the first one (click arrow/number). Here is a photo of said...
by Whiting | Nov 4, 2013 | Behaviour, Lab news, Science news, Sexual selection, Water skink project
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...
by Whiting | Oct 30, 2013 | field work volunteers, Frillneck lizard
An enthusiastic and capable volunteer field assistant is required for a research project on frillneck lizards (Chlamydosaurus kingii) in the eastern Kimberley, Western Australia. The project forms part of a study on sex allocation and colour communication in these...
by Whiting | Oct 29, 2013 | Lab news
News flash: Dan Noble has finished his PhD! While Dan still has the official graduation ceremony in his future, we had a small signing ceremony in the lab. Dr. Keogh (Dan’s co-supervisor), brought a special pen from Canberra, the nation’s capital, just for...
by Whiting | Oct 21, 2013 | Lab news, Lizard Lab adventures
Recently, Martin Whiting and Lizard Lab alumnus Pau Carazo made a pilgrimage to Down House, Charles Darwin’s family home where he wrote the Origin of Species and many of his other classic works and where he conducted many of his experiments. It was a highly...
by Whiting | Oct 16, 2013 | Behaviour, Cognition, Lab news, Publications
Lizard cognition has experienced something of a resurgence in the last few years. To get up to speed, take a look at a previous post summarising most of the recent published work. In a new paper published online in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Ben Clark, Dan...
by Whiting | Aug 6, 2013 | Cognition, Lab news
I currently have several openings for PhD students in my research group. My lab has two major research themes: cognition and animal communication/social behaviour. These themes encompass several disciplines and recent projects include sexual selection, mating systems,...
by Whiting | Aug 5, 2013 | Animal signals, China field work, Lizard Lab adventures, Phrynocephalus, Toad-headed agamas
Take a look at photos from our field work in northern China, where we were studying complex communication in toad-headed agamas (Phrynocephalus). Our photos are loaded on Flickr, where you can view pictures of our study animals and past field trips. Click on the photo...
by Whiting | Jul 21, 2013 | Animal signals, Behaviour, Small-eyed snake, Social behaviour
Snakes have traditionally been viewed as the poor cousins of lizards where social behaviour is concerned. This is perhaps an artefact of generally being more cryptic and less tractable than lizards and therefore more difficult to study. Nevertheless, snakes are...
by Whiting | Jul 9, 2013 | China field work, Conservation, Dispatches from the field, Habitat use, Lizard Lab adventures, Phrynocephalus, Toad-headed agamas
We have just recently finished working on a particularly interesting lizard: the toad-headed agama Phrynocephalus axillaris. We found a population on the gravel plains just west of Ruoqiang, in central Xinjiang Province, while searching for another species, P....
