Emotions and varanids…

[Steeve B]

I never really gave any tot about anthropomorphism in reptiles before a few years ago,
Iv kept many kind of reptiles and a few seem to stand out from the rest, to name a few black racers, king cobras, caiman lizard, rhino iguanas, but what really opened my eyes, was working with Salvadorii, every day I see something that tells me they have the same emotions we have, just to give you an idea!
1.1 are in the same cage, the female is basking keeping an eye on her male, witch is busy courting the female next door thru the wire mesh, she never lets here eye of him, not even when aim changing her water, she pays no attention to me whatsoever, but follows every move her male is doing, when the other females shows interest in the male, she’s all puff and high strong but stays on here basking, when I pretend to open the trap door she moves in between him and the other female, pushing him with her nose and body until he leaves, then looks and tong flicks the other female leaving with a threat display. Why is it that I saw this with Salvadorii and not with other varanids, simply because there always on display allowing there social activity’s to be seen, a trait shared with the other species IV mentioned, and maybe why I tot they where more intelligent? This is just one of 100s of things IV witnessed, to me it’s too much to ignore! I treat them as emotional beings.
Rgds

[Tim and Julie B]

That must be awsome to see. Keeping her male in check! Too funny. Do you suppose the other species of monitor do display this type of behavior when they are not being watched? Are Salvadorii more out going personality wise?

Rhino iguanas are so cool looking. I have never seen one yet only pics. One day.

[Steeve B]

Yes I think so; it’s hard to see this in monitors that are always hidden. I do not think Salvadorii are more intelligent then other species, then again maybe they are? All I can say is, they are in there own class, I don’t find them very attractive compared to much more colourful varanids, however there behaviour is so fascinating I cant compare them with any known varanids.
last week I was talking with Horn and we where discussing how they seem (to both of us) more intelligent then all varanids, we compared them with his lace monitors, and agreed it wasn’t a fair comparison, lace seem so primitive in fact even komodo seem primitive in comparison. I know aim learning a lot from them and having fun too.
Rgds

[mbayless]

Ive seen V. exanthematicus in a hierarchy dominant pyramid, with
Hi all,

The behaviors Steve B. has seen are amazing, and from an apex predator, fascinating. How much do we know of Varanus in captivity, and do these behaviors occur in the wild? As an animal behaviorist by training, animal behavior fascinates me. Im not sure what behaviors they do in the wild, as so few have been documented, but here are a few shared tidbits of Vara-world Ive seen...

2.2 animals together for years. The males would combat, the females would combat, the males would try copulating with the females, and sometimes male - male courtship, and female-female courtship which I took as posturing their dominance to each other....and how "familiar" they were with one another, sleeping together at night, arms laid over one anothers body, and how the males seemed almost "hurt feelings" if I did not feed one or the other first...one male actually seemed to sulk for days not eating because I fed the other male first - and I resumed to feed the sulking male first from then-on.....as Michael Stanner has observed in V. griseus, they can become "depressed" in captivity, and knowing this before, I always change the animals enclosures periodically and offer 'treats' in non-feeding days/time, and believe me they knew when it was feeding time! This instilled some mental brain exercises for them, and seem to help them emotionally alot...especially the argus monitor. I would feed him a snack rat pup in the middle of the night, he would wake up when I would say his name, and "go get it" which I always said to him during normal feeding times - the same sound sequence would tell him it was food in there, and during the midnight hours he would get the rat pup and spend hours looking for more...during the day I would put wax worms into their cages, lots of them so many got away into the substrate....the animals love to dig, so periodically they would find one, swallow it, and look for more = something they do in the wild and keeps them from boredom....
being mentally stimulated is as important the basic needs they require on a day-to-day basis too. Its also fun to watch them do this.

A friend of mine who keeps V. albigularis saw his animals engage in tick removal behavior (Williams & Bayless, 2000: CHS bulletin, 37:100-101), a never before seen behavior in varanids; how many other behaviors will we see, that can never be seen in the wild? Are they natural? Adaptive to captivity? Learned? so many questions....not so many answers, yet!! :)

cheers,
markb

[Tim and Julie B]

Ok that is absolutely fascinating. Gotta love having two walking, talking varanid encyclopaedias to share their knowledge and observations with us newbies. I knew very little about varanids before I joined this site. Only the book learned stuff. But these kinds of observations are what it seems to be all about. The whole reason why we act like little kids when it comes to something we love. TB