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color recognition and the TV

shortydsm May 18, 2003 11:46 PM

Does anyone know if lizards (iguanas) can see in color? I was thinking of that when I noticed my ig picking out his favorite items out of his salad, like the yellow squash & strawberries. So I decided to test this & put different colored food items in a line, all cut the same shapes & he went right for the strawberries first. Sometimes, when he walks over his newspapers before he poops, he tries to bite the red in the colored ads, like the Target sign.

On a similar note, can they see & recognixe the images on the TV? One nite when he was fast asleep on the couch behind us, we were flipping thru channels & stopped on some nature show that showed a rattlesnake & as soon as he hard the rattle noise, he woke up. They he stared at the TV & started to head bob at the snake! He also seems to follow the basktball players movements too. I was thinking that if he can see himself in the mirror or in reflections, he could also actually be seeing the people or animals in the TV too?

Any thoughts/comments???

Replies (3)

Kate May 19, 2003 05:17 PM

Yup, iguanas can see colors. Lizard's favorite foods are the bright yellows, oranges, and reds, too. Even if he's never had a certain food before, he goes for the color. He also sometimes likes to watch tv, and I've heard from several other people that their igs like to as well. I don't know if they actually recognize that it's people or animals on the tv, or if they just like the moving colors. I guess maybe you can test it out by showing him a video of iguanas, and see how he reacts!

Kate

ig_daddy May 20, 2003 12:44 PM

Not only can iguanas watch TV, our Iggi will stop eating, and turn around on the couch to watch her favorite TV show, Christopher Lowell. We always leave the TV on the Discovery Channel, for her to watch when we leave to go shopping.
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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~

anakatsu May 20, 2003 05:41 PM

I really think igs can see color b/c Louie behaves differently to people if they are wearing a bright green color. Also the male iguanas turn bright colors to attract/intimidate other iguanas during breeding season, so they can probably distinguish colors- that's my reasoning.

Alice

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