Varanids Counting and other intelligent things

[formica]

Apparently some Monitors can count (The Biology of Varanid Lizards - King/Green) - thats not something I expected to come across, I assumed they would be less intelligent than say Crows, but perhaps not? Crows are extremely intelligent of course

Anyone here tried any of the standard tests for intelligence on their varanids? lab testing and real world testing can throw up diffrent results, be interesting to hear how intelligent peoples monitors are

Lots of animal intelligence tests can be found around the web, tests for birds are a good place to start probably, test for dogs and cats may be pushing it a bit...although i'm pretty sure I have never owned a cat that could count lol

Also found notes on cooperation between individual monitors, working together to gain access to a food source in quite complex ways (one leads away female croc from nest, other one digs up nest while coast is clear) - any cohab monitors out there doing interesting things?

[infernalis]

watch this...





Varanidae Intelligence by Dr. Gordon Burghardt - Full PDF

[Mikoh4792]

although the first video was more impressive, the last one is definitely fascinating.

[Kera]

Those are awesome videos!

[formica]

awsome

will have to come up with some interesting things to build into my savs new enclosure to make his brain work a bit harder

[SnakeyJay]

Very impressive.. The sav in the first video, is that healthy? I don't keep varanids but it looks lethargic the way it drags it's body along rather than lifting to walk.

[formica]

was also intrigued to see another Sav eagerly drinking from a bowl of water - and the slight glimpse of the enclosure suggests it may be very dry, looks like paper towel and cork hides?

lets try not to derail the thread tho...this particular area has been well gone over and established

[formica]

Originally Posted by infernalis

Varanidae Intelligence by Dr. Gordon Burghardt - Full PDF

I've tried to load this pdf several times now, but it doesnt make any sense, i think something is wrong with the formatting? am I the only person having trouble with it?

[infernalis]

The PDF is fine, opened it twice from that link just now.

[Starbuck]

Originally Posted by Mikoh4792

although the first video was more impressive, the last one is definitely fascinating.

Agreed!!! Barring any major F-ups on our part, it would be amazing to see how evolution treats monitors in the next million years or so...

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by Snakey-Jay

Very impressive.. The sav in the first video, is that healthy? I don't keep varanids but it looks lethargic the way it drags it's body along rather than lifting to walk.

You are not the first to notice.

I feel the same way as do others.

[formica]

been thinking about things to build into the new enclosure, and things to test

building on the idea that some monitors can count, I wonder if it would be possible to get a monitor to work through say 2 or 3 levers, that have to be turned in a specific order, to get to a food item

and perhaps to test food preferences, and building on their ability to distinguish between different door triggers; say 3 levers, each a different color, and each opening one of 3 doors, each containing a different type of food - if they can learn that only one door will open each day, will they be choosy about which lever they press in order to access a certain type of food? probably easy to train, assuming that a monitor can be trained in this way...cats for eg, when presented with 3 doors where only one offers food, dont do well learning which one contains the food, unlike dogs, who learn quickly

Lastly, a small box, which can only be opened by carrying it up to a high point in the enclosure, and pushing it off, in order to ''break'' it and get to the food item...some challenges to over come in designing this kind of box and training the monitor to understand the process, but could be interesting

[Starbuck]

You can buy some of the tips youre talking about in specialty dog stores, if a German Shepard can't destroy it I doubt a sav will. Obviously wouldn't leave him alone work out at first to make sure it'ssafe, but will probably save you time and money.

[formica]

Originally Posted by Starbuck

You can buy some of the tips youre talking about in specialty dog stores, if a German Shepard can't destroy it I doubt a sav will. Obviously wouldn't leave him alone work out at first to make sure it'ssafe, but will probably save you time and money.

not sure what a 'tip' is? had a search thru google without much luck, is it a toy of some kind which offers food rewards?

[mdfmonitor]

Originally Posted by infernalis

watch this...





Varanidae Intelligence by Dr. Gordon Burghardt - Full PDF

Wayne the 1st vid i hate & will always hate, poor animal.

last vid is great!!