Are Reptiles Intelligent?

Frank the Monitor Lizard

I have often been asked about the intelligence of reptiles “Do they know you?”, “Do they learn?” These are sensible questions and I answer them from my own perspective.  My reptiles know my smell and that I am not food, most know that I am not a treat and are relaxed around me.  I wouldn’t say they like me or hate me as evolution has not seen the need for them to like other creatures even if it is one their own species, they might tolerate me just as they might tolerate another reptile and not run away if they are in the vicinity of one.

Eddie my oldest iguana, with who I have spent the most time and who sometimes rides with me in the passenger seat of the truck  thinks I’m a tree, I am convinced of it as he always seems to want to sit on my head which is painful.

With other reptiles such as snapping turtles I find their reactions to be more like reflexes if there is a threat he bites it. There is no stress afterwards and if the threat is there again he will bite again and so on.

I find that my lizards who are naturally predisposed to be frightened of snakes seem to eventually get over their fear but,  if they have not seen a snake for a few months they may be back to being scared again.

Snakes cannot open their mouths very wide they have to stretch their mouths over their prey not unlike a sock as it stretches over a foot. In order to do this they must find the narrowest point to start the process which is the head, when it does this and starts swallowing the legs fold back sleekly which allows for easy consumption.  They don’t always get it right sometimes it takes several attempts to find the right starting point as sometimes they start at the side of the prey or at the tail and you will find them with the rear legs of the victim doing the splits out the corners of their mouth not allowing swallowing.  Over 100 million years of evolution and they still can’t get it right first time.

What brought me onto the subject of animal intelligence was today watching one of my reptiles frank the monitor lizard who weighs in at over 10kg and over 4ft in length.  I let him out for a walk from his enclosure he was dying to get out for a wonder around.  He walked around smelling the nooks and crannies of the reptile house, as I was watching him he came back to his own enclosure, It was as if it was all new to him he got all the scents and a while later he went back in again and repeated this several times.  I eventually put him back in his “New home” he ate his rat and went to sleep.

Monitor lizards are clever in ways, tests have shown they will push the black button for a treat, when the button is moved and pared with a white button they will still push the black button. They are capable of identifying up to six items, in other words they can count to six.  They are the only reptile to cooperate, monitors sometimes work in pairs one will distract a brooding female crocodile while the other grabs the eggs.

There is one thing reptiles seem to all have individual personalities, some are shy others are easygoing some easily scared while others not, to me this shows they are aware of themselves and the environment around them. That they have feelings (not human emotion) some times are quite and passive other times not so. While intelligence is an important tool for human survival, reptiles have all the intelligence they need to exist their simple skills have been proven over the last 290 million years

Frank Thinking?