Science! Not as stupid as we once thought?

[CountofCasualty]

So a friend of mine found this article, thought I'd share it with you all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/science/coldblooded-does-not-mean-stupid.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

It doesn't touch on beardies, but it does touch on other reptiles and lizards. Very cool study and I hope more comes from it!

 

[Max18]

Wow that's really interesting!

 

[Siren]

When I worked at Disney's Animal Kingdom, it was when they first opened and they were starting something new.

The acquired a couple of baby American Alligators and had them in indoor tanks. They began to teach them, if they touch a red painted circle on a piece of wood, they got food. They had to walk to it, touch it with the tip of their snout, and food was given. It didn't take long for them to catch on.

The ultimate goal of all this...when these gators were adults and needed to be moved, instead of having an 8 man team jumping on the animal and strapping it down...risking lives and causing stress to the animal, they would instead have large red dots for the animal to follow to another part of the enclosure or into a moving box.

I have not worked there in years. I don't know if they had success. But the idea, I never imagined at the time a reptile could LEARN anything. I always assumed there were only two personality types in reptiles...aggressive and passive. It wasn't till I owned bearded dragons that I saw personality and intelligence in not just beardies, but I see all reptiles in a new light.

This article is awesome! Thank you for sharing it!

 

[LLLReptile]

There's a neat PBS special about monitors that includes a bit about some scientists who target trained several monitors to hit black or white colored targets in order to get fed. They also were able to show that the monitors could count up to at least 6.

Interesting article, thanks for sharing!

-Jen

 

[CountofCasualty]

Glad everyone is enjoying it! I've heard about the target for food trick with alligators in Zoo's before. Can't remember the zoo, but it was for if they had to move the alligators out of the enclosure they'd miss a meal and introduce a target to lead them out of the enclosure without having 7-8 people pile on top of them and a lot of stress and possible injuries.