There seems to be some confusion between 'social' and 'intelligent'. An animal can be intelligent, but not social.



Here's an old video of my pair of lace monitors, which have learned how to 'ask' to be let out of the enclosure and then how to be lifted out. This was done a few years ago when they first started learning this routine. The reward is simply getting some 'wandering around' time outside the enclosure. What they have learned to do is:



1. Not scratch at the glass.

2. Only wait on the right hand side of the enclosure.

3. Sit quietly and tongue flick

4. Lift their left arm and place it into my hand, specifically between my thumb and forefinger, so I can get a grip around their upper arm to enable me to lift them out.



This all seems simple, but if you were to see them doing this you'd realise that there is a fair bit of intelligence and memory involved. If one of them starts scratching at the glass or waiting at the wrong end of the enclosure, all I have to do is turn my head away to ignore them and they will almost immediately head to the correct side of the enclosure and sit there quietly.



They were a bit round-bellied when I shot this, as it was done over the course of a weekend that I was also doing some feeding videos.

video of monitor routine



I'll post an updated video in a few months when I have more time to do some editing. In the older video the arm placement sometimes looks accidental - my hand seems to be exactly where they'd place their arm, anyway, if they were trying to climb out. What'll be different with the new video is that I have several clips of the male sitting there with one arm waving in the air, waiting for me, so you get a good feel for how intentional the movement is. I'm in the process of training him to raise his arm higher before I even open the enclosure.

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