The research study, released in the peer-reviewed clinical journal Animal Cognition by Springer, found that Geckos in fact utilize their tongues to notice the smell of other gecko subspecies.
“Lizards and reptiles (such as geckos) are generally seen as unsocial primitive animals. We must recognize that reptiles are more social and intelligent than we thought,” says Birgit Szabo, lead author of the research study from the Division of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Bern’s Institute of Ecology and Evolution.
How do geckos notice odor?
Geckos, such as other lizards and snakes, utilize their tongues to view scents from other people. For circumstances, when climbing up a wall, geckos sometimes stop briefly to dart their tongues around – a phenomenon that was acknowledged in the past however not totally comprehended previously.
Researchers tried to test their hypothesis by providing the geckos with numerous smells on cotton bud. The geckos utilized for the experiment existed with cotton bud including their own odor, smells from other geckos and control smells such as water and peppermint.
The geckos effectively associated the smells with the right topics – for example, the geckos stood out their tongues in the instructions of their home enclosures when provided with their own smell, whereas they would point their tongues in the smell of the swab when provided with a various smell.
Researchers translated this habits as an indication that the geckos initially view the smell on the swab, and after that compare it with their own smell on the walls of the enclosure.
“The geckos have to compare more frequently when confronted with the odor of another gecko, compared to their own odor. This indicates that they know their own odor,” Szabo explained.
“Reptiles, and especially geckos, are ideally suitable for investigating fundamental questions about the evolution of sociality. Within geckos, we can find a vast range of social structures and habitats,” says Eva Ringler, research study co-author and head of the Division of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Bern.
“This allows us to investigate the interrelationships of cognition, communication and social living within a small taxonomic group – and make comparisons between these and other, more distantly related groups of animals such as mammals and birds,” Ringler concluded.
