So many people regard lizards as hideous brainless creatures whose only job is to run around in rooms and scare children. Mythologies about them abound: they fall in milk and poison it; they attack humans; they are solitary beings. None of this is true. Lizards, like all reptiles, have a lot of very surprising abilities.

Brain functions

Until recently, theories about the brain presumed that apes and humans were unique in their thinking abilities because the brain structure had a large cortex (the outer layer of an organ) which defined thought, word and creation. The midbrain represented the reptilian brain, with fewer cognitive abilities and no social skills, concentrating only on instinct for survival, food and sex. The area in between these two parts of the brain was the limbic area which controlled the emotional area. This three-part brain assumed that increasingly advanced behaviour correlated with evolutionary advances in these three brain regions.

This is simply not true. The brain is proving to be far more complex than this simple division will allow, and now, brain scientists say it is really not possible to define exact regions for consciousness or specific forms of intelligence.

Small animals, insects, plants and even microbes show advanced forms of intelligence. Even amoebas, which are supposed to have no brain at all, have social skills. Amoebas have been shown to sacrifice themselves for other amoebas, especially if closely related. It is, therefore, not surprising that reptiles are just as smart and socially developed as us.

Unfortunately most animals in captivity cannot be accurately studied for intelligence because they don’t like being captives and will not perform naturally in laboratory conditions. As a result, they are often misread, especially their social behaviour. This applies to reptiles as well, of which there are 300 species of turtles and 9,000 species of lizards and snakes. Here are some recent discoveries of lizards studied in the wild. They exhibit advanced social behaviour: pair bonding, recognition of family and care of children, social learning, play behaviour and cooperation. Even counting, advanced learning, and problem solving.

Smart animals

The green iguana, studied in a natural setting, shows very advanced social behaviour. In mating season, a male defends a specific dead tree from other males. Many females come to the tree and compete for his affections. He chooses a mate by changing colours from green to orange. Then, he stays with her till she is ready to give birth. The female migrates some distance away, both walking and swimming, to nest in an area with hundreds of others, sometimes to a nearby island. They build complex burrows that are used over and over and improved upon. The females go away after laying their eggs but come back several times to check on the eggs and amazingly, find their own burrows each time. When the babies are just hatching, they look around and duck

back in. They often stay in the eggs observing other babies to see if it is safe to emerge and follow cues from others.

Newly hatched iguanas form groups of four and choose a leader. They rub up against each other frequently, wagging their tails like dogs. They groom each other and sleep together. They walk in a line with the chosen leader checking on the others. When the iguanas are leaving the nesting island to swim back to their homeland, the leader swims out first and checks back, waiting for those who are anxious about swimming. Finally, when everyone is able to go, they swim on as a group. These babies watch out for predators together and protect each other. Males protect females.

A small tropical lizard, the anole, has shown itself to be smarter than even crows in tests of opening caps, learning and remembering days later. Biology Letters reports that scientists set them the task of locating a worm in one of two holes. The hole containing the worm was covered with a lid. The lizards successfully completed the test by either lifting the lid with their mouths or by biting into the covering and then removing it—a completely new form of behaviour for lizards.  They correctly identified the hole with the worm, identifying the colour of the lid that covered the worm—days later.

Komodo dragons recognise humans and have distinct personalities. Tokay lizards form strong pair bonds and if the female dies, the male searches and calls endlessly for her. Even if a replacement female is made available he continues to yearn for his earlier mate. Years later, they still remember lizards that had shared their space briefly, and humans.

Reptiles are cold-blooded animals. Unlike mammals or birds, which burn calories to maintain body temperature, they use sunlight or other sources of heat. As climate change alters the temperatures of reptile habitats around the globe, tests of one lizard species suggests warmer nests could make reptiles even smarter. Scientists studying the Australian skink born in warmer-than-usual temperatures found that they performed much better on learning tasks than lizards born in cooler nests.

Pet behaviour

Here are some anecdotes of people who have had lizards as companions. “My iguana was relaxed around people. He was potty trained to use a shallow tub of water or the lawn. He was trained not to eat houseplants but would do so when there were no people about. He recognised individuals and would climb down from his perch and rapidly approach a friend who gave him treats when he visited. In fact when he saw him through a window he would wait in anticipation and ignore other people.”

“When my leopard gecko is hungry he will look at me and then at the green tub I keep the crickets in and back at me until I feed him.”

“My gecko likes me and my mother and hides when my brother is around. When the cat is in the room she likes to poke her head out and provoke him.”

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