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admin
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Posted: Thu Aug 28th, 2008 03:34 pm |
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Hey -- I don't make this stuff up....I simply pass it on.....this just in from LiveScience.com...
Lizards work out for the same reason a guy at the gym might: as a display of strength. And with lizards, as can be the case with men, the push-ups also mean "get out of my territory."
And a new study finds some lizards make a morning and evening routine out of the displays.
Four species of male Jamaican lizards called anoles greet each dawn with vigorous push-ups, head bobs and a threatening extension of a colorful flap of skin on the neck. They repeat the ritual at dusk.
Other creatures, from birds to reptiles to primates, are known to mark dawn and dusk with various sounds. But this is the first such ritualistic visual display of territorialism known, said Terry J. Ord, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology and at the University of California, Davis. The research will be detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal American Naturalist.
"Anoles are highly visual species, so in that sense it's not surprising that they would use visual displays to mark territory," Ord said. "Still, the finding is surprising because these are the first animals known to use non-acoustic signaling at dawn and dusk."
My space
Female anoles establish small territories for food and other resources. Males stake out larger territories, in which they have access to several females, Ord found. The males spend much of the day sitting on tree trunks doing their calisthenics to warn away other males.
"As in humans, if an anole can do many of these push-ups, it shows that he is in prime physical condition," Ord said. "These displays of strength help avert actual physical confrontations between male lizards, which can be very fierce and destructive."
Ord videotaped individual males at different times of day, from before dawn to dusk. He found distinct peaks of activity at daybreak and for about two hours afterward, and again just before dark.
"These patterns have remarkable parallels with the dawn and dusk choruses reported for many acoustically communicating animals," Ord says.
Ornithologists don't all agree on the exact reasons why birds sing at dawn and dusk. It could be for territorial defense or to communicate something about their environment. But Ord says his work suggests male anoles use their morning displays primarily to mark territory.
Hey, human!
Anyone who has ever seen a lizard doing push-ups might wonder if they're trying to scare the human observer away or if, rather, the observer just happened to come along at the right time. Ord thinks it's probably the latter.
"We just happen to be around when they're displaying," he told LiveScience. "These animals display a lot even when no other lizards seems to be around. But in my experience, there's probably another lizard over your shoulder somewhere that you don't see, and that's who they are displaying at."
However, the push-ups might be a signal to us, Ord explained.
Gazelles are known to let predators know that they know they're being watched, as if to say: "Hey, buddy, the element of surprise is gone. I'm fit and I will escape if you try anything."
"In the case of gazelles, the predator [such as a lion] gives up stalking them," Ord explained. "Some have said that might also be why lizards might display to us, although the jury is still out on that one."
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culebrabike
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Posted: Sat Aug 30th, 2008 06:21 pm |
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| I got a shot the other day of a gecko doing push-ups Attachment: IMG_7297.JPG (Downloaded 43 times)
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admin
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Posted: Sat Aug 30th, 2008 07:53 pm |
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can I just make one comment? oh forget it......there is just too much to say. thanks for sharing.
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bayberry
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Posted: Sun Aug 31st, 2008 01:06 am |
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| Kind of a match for Admin's Iguana shots on the street outside of Island Woman's digs.....
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Doug
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Posted: Sun Aug 31st, 2008 05:04 pm |
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This forum is getting quite the web-wide buzz among reptilis porn afficianados! 
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Dennis Miller, on the Pee Wee Herman public outcry.
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admin
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Posted: Sun Aug 31st, 2008 05:27 pm |
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Island Woman started the porn thing with the Wiener Man.
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Jim
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Posted: Sun Aug 31st, 2008 11:59 pm |
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Lets take it all the way out in left field
this classic is from Marty Champ CC Jan '06
THE RESCUE IGUANAS OF CULEBRA
Shipwrecked, adrift for days under a relentless sun,
the clouds at sea began to look like the Swiss Alps.
Dreaming all the while of snowy mountains led to
thoughts of Saint Bernards, kegs of brandy looped
around their necks, looking for the lost.
Awoke on a tropical beach and my blurred vision
made out an outline, serrated top and bottom.
Thinking, so this is the cosmic cutting board and
I’m lunch. The shadowy form come closer and there
was the touch of something cool and reptilian.
Croaking through parched lips,
“Depues de la tormenta, oy un una nufrago,”I thought
I heard in reply, “That’s what they all say.” It was
then a shot of the strongest rum was poured down
my throat and I could see much more clearly.
Another shot followed and then another. It was the
Rescue Iguanas of Culebra!
Yes, it is legendary, like the porpoises who push
you to shore, but risking ridicule, I swear it is true.
The kegs around the necks of the iguanas are only
one shot, but it is often the difference between
insanity and boredom. Obsure and dubious records
dating back to the days of pirates will testify to this.
In unison, the iguanas nod once, twice, thrice.
They nod in a manner emphatic, decisive and businesslike.
Are iguanas reborn as land developers or the other
way around? If you ask them, they whap you upside
the head with their tails. Or have you arrested.
Arising Lazarus-like, I followed them into a beach
front bar called “One hundred beers of solitude.”
When customers had a shot of rum, they would all
nod one, twice, thrice. The bartender’s name was
Lloyd and things began to make sense.Attachment: Rescue.png (Downloaded 18 times)
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