Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I saw the posts below about monitor play and instantly thought of this interesting article. It's by Trooper Walsh and James B. Murphy and appears in the Herpetological Review 37(3), 2006: pages 269-275.

Some of you may remember when Kraken was born at the Smithsonian Nat. Zoo in '92. A portion of the article is about her.

Walsh and Murphy explain in the article some of the "exhibited playlike behavior -- removing a handkerchief or notebook from keeper Trooper Walsh's pocket, scraping his shoes with her forearm, playing tug of war with a plastic cup, interacting with empty cardboard boxes, as well as pieces of cloth and scarves (Fig. 9). Kraken stood on her hind legs, directed tongue flicks to Walsh's face, rested her head on his shoulder, and closed her eyes. Kraken carried frisbees, shoes, plastic toy action figures for children, and other objects around in her mouth but made no attempt to swallow them (fig. 10). The lizard stuck its head into a plastic bucket, raised her anterior trunk so that the container covered her head and walked around the exhibit. The dragon placed her snout inside a shoe, lifted it off the substrate, and moved throughout the cage. When Walsh whistled, Kraken turned her head toward the source of the sound. Kraken could discriminate between prey and non-prey; she would gently take a rat offered with tongs and never showed an inclination to bite Walsh." (quote from pages 272-273).

The article goes on to share both anecdotal and researched evidence of playlike behavior, intelligence, and non-reptilian-like interaction with humans. For those interested, it's a good read that I'd recommend. Zoo enrichment with herps has always fascinated me, and so I enjoyed the article.

DR

Suboc.com

Of course I have seen all that and more(I have so much more) But to discribe it as play, is a bit of a stretch. You could, but likely as not, you would be in error.

First, monitors are outward, and are not stupid. No reptile is stupid. Most hide their behaviors, monitors do not at times. Monitors are not very specialized, which means, they are behaviorally very broad. They seem to practice flexibility over specialization. Their great diversity is size, from very large to very small. But other then that, they all have about the same structure, and all have useful legs and four of them. All climb, run, dig, swim and squeeze into holes, to some degree or another.

I personally think all those events were an attempt to gain something. What, is the giant question.

I feed wild lizards, I have for years. I have shown this on our forum. Some of these wild lizards, follow me around, sit with me, help me fix the car, ok, not help, but just sit there a nd watch. Not about food(they were already fed up), just to be entertained is my guess.

Wild monitors and captive monitors(if not insane and of illhealth) are very very nosy(curious) they got to see and become envolved with whatever is going on. Somethings to their death(wild ones)

Its my opinion, varanids are HIGHLY social, as the majorty of behaviors I see are about members of their own kind. From bonding in pairs, to groups, to simple touching. They seem to have to have contact with another individual. This also envolves other species. Including other species of monitors.

Whenever we place two different species together, it normally results in one species behaving like the other. Completely losing its own identity and becoming the other species. An example is, we kept a argus/flavi/gouldi cross with mertens. The cross became a mertens, using the water with them and like them. And much more. Many attempts at this resulted in crosses.

What I see is, the monkey see syndrome. That is, they mimic what they see. So in the case of this paper, I see that monitor/s mimicking what it sees. To me, thats what monitors and many reptiles do.

Of course I understand that science says that is not what monitors are. But then what do they know, they have no/minor success and very few actual living animals. I may be way off, but, I may have more species and more individual monitors AnD have taken them thru more generations, then all those who consider themselves science, put together, over the last 16 years. IN THE WORLD. So yes, of cousre I see monitors a little differently.

Also, the word "play" is rather subjective. If it means " to practice" then monitors may indeed play. Or to "test" monitors are always testing things. Cheers

I'd imagine that flexibility so to speak is a great survival tool in allowing them to adapt quickly. Also don't forget by nature Monitors are very curious and inquisitive and love exploring, testing, learning about their surroundings and what goes on in it. Out of all the reptiles in the world, monitors strike me as the brightest and have the most personality anyways.

I am not sure about the use of words like, brightest or intelligence. As they have little meaning in nature. A species thats evolved to a very tight nitche may seem dumb, but its highly successful. Its so evolved, it does not have to show obvious intelligence(making successful choices).

It appears to me that if people can see their eyes moving, they relate that to the animal thinking. My bet is, even snakes think just as much. Only we cannot see it. Cheers

Interesting comments from both sides. I do have to admit that I was blown away the last time I sat and watched a baby Yellow Ackie in a tub at an expo. Amazing little animals. Whether varanids have a greater degree of "intelligence" or not, they do have a presence that can be felt.

And if you're a reptile lover, why not have one for a pet that can steal your handkerchief from your pocket? (Whether he is "playing" or not - it's still pretty cool.)

DR
Suboc.com

np