Posts
They may not be the brightest bulbs in the
terrarium, but surprising new research shows for
the first time ever that reptiles are able to learn
by watching others . Known as “social
imitation,” this ability is something commonly
associated primarily with humans and certain
other primates.
Reptiles learn by watching? Before you know it,
they’ll be saying sharks have personalities.
Actually, another new study has shown that
sharks do have personalities, but we’ll get to that
later.
For the reptile study, which was published in the
journal Animal Cognition, European researchers
devised a simple experiment involving a dozen
bearded dragons and a wooden board with a
sliding wire door. The researchers looked to see
whether the lizards could learn to use the door
simply by watching a “demonstrator” lizard
trained to use the door to get to a yummy
mealworm.
What happened? Not just one but all eight of
the observer lizards successfully copied the
actions of the demonstrator. None of the lizards
in a control group that hadn’t seen the
demonstrator were able to open the door.
“This research suggests that the bearded dragon
is capable of social learning that cannot be
explained by simple mechanisms–such as an
individual being drawn to a certain location
because they observed another in that location or
through observational learning,” Dr. Anna
Wilkinson of the University of Lincoln’s School of
Life Sciences in England and the leader of the
research team, said in a written statement. “The
finding is not compatible with the claim that
only humans, and to a lesser extent great apes,
are able to imitate.”
The shark study was led by the University of
Exeter and the Marine Biological Association in
England and published in the journal
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. It showed
for the first time ever that some sharks have
strong social connections with others of their
species while others tend to be aquatic
wallflowers, according to a written statement
issued by Exeter University.
The researchers reached the surprising conclusion
after observing the social interactions of 10
groups of captive small-spotted catsharks in
three different types of habitat.
“We found that even though the sizes of the
groups forming changed, socially well-connected
individuals remained well-connected under each
new habitat,” Dr. David Jacoby, a behavioral
ecologist now at the Institute of Zoology in
London and one of the researchers, said in a
written statement. “In other words, their social
network positions were repeated through time
and across different habitats.”
Maybe it’s time to show a bit more respect to our
scaly friends.
No comments