First I have worked/owned Savs before owning beardies and yes I did generalize Monitors because I didnt think I needed to specify on it to get my point across.What I find funny is your comparing a hunting ability and instinct to that of cognitive thinking which btw are 2 distinct portions of the lobe.Point in fact I wonder what type of beardies you actually have because mine will hunt room to room to find what they desire when free roaming and generally find them with ease not to mention distinguishing their prey items with ease.If you ever actually looked or tested their COGNITIVE abilities you would be suprised.I will not argue with you in regards to the hunting instinct nor will I argue with you about the calm demeanor.There is a reason for all of this and thats because they generally work smart not hard and allow the prey to come to them instead of expelling required energy going after them.Now that is SMART!TheVirus":04dc4 said:Vicky, with all do respect, your post shows your inexperience. How many monitors do you own? How many have you successfully breed? The point is, you don't know the differences between a monitor (which is very generalized) and a beardie. Also, that you would think beardies a very smart lizard shows your inexperience with other lizards. Beardies are a dumb lizard. I would assume they are a prey lizard. I read a post (on a monitor forum) from an Australian Scientist. He posted a picture of a wild beardie and went on to say how calm wild dragons are. He said you can walk right up to them and photograph them (thats dumb). Lizards like Iguanas won't let you get 30 yards before taking off(thats smart). Also beardies are poor hunters. You have to remove the crickets because unless its right in his eye sight, he'll never eat it. Monitors actively forage. They find hiding roaches and crix and eat them (they are more highly evolved and posses a Jacobson's organ). I would go as far as to saying that my slow moving Chameleons are smarter than beardies and far more highly evolved.
Also the way you keep your dragons restricts behaviour. Your not seeing the same behaviours I am. Its why I keep them the way I do. Its more fun watching a beardie act like a beardie.