Search results for "Terrarium"
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Chemosensory Recognition of Familiar and Unfamiliar Conspecifics by Juveniles of the Iberian Wall Lizard Podarcis hispanica
2002
Chemosensory recognition of familiar conspecifics has been reported in studies with members of several lizard families and may be advantageous to distinguish between intruders and neighbors or group members. However,few species have been studied and information on the ability to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics by chemosensory means is lacking for most lizard families. In this paper we ask whether juveniles of the Iberian wall lizard Podarcis hispanica (Lacertidae),can discriminate between chemical signals from familiar conspecifics with whom they have shared a terrarium for several months and those from unfamiliar conspecifics housed in a different terrarium. Exper…
Beyond ‘nasty neighbours’ and ‘dear enemies’? Individual recognition by scent marks in a lizard (Podarcis hispanica)
2008
True individual recognition (TIR), the ability to recognize conspecific individuals on the basis of identity cues, is required for the evolution of several social traits (e.g. the maintenance of dominance hierarchies). However, knowledge about the distribution and functional significance of TIR is scant in some vertebrate groups, such as reptiles. In this study we used a functional modification of a habituation-dishabituation paradigm to investigate the existence and adaptive significance of TIR in a territorial lizard (Podarcis hispanica, Lacertidae). Males discriminated between individual rivals of similar characteristics (e.g. size, weight, familiarity) solely on the basis of their scent…