on 2/9/01 4:56 PM, Steven Groginsky at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I thought they might fall asleep and get burned while they're asleep, which
> might be possible.
I seem to recall something about pain receptors in reptiles being different
as well as thermal receptors. I may have it mixed up, but I think that the
belly does not have thermal-pain receptors (but the back does... so they
know when to stop basking!) and that what happens is the lizard perceives a
hot rock as warm... but doesn't detect pain associated with the heat.
Unlike us. We have pain receptors for dull pain... sharp pain and when
extremes of temperature occur it triggers a different kind of pain that may
actually include "sharp". Reptiles seem to have reduced pain receptors,
especially in the area of sharp pain or thermally-induced pain (which may be
why many of them can lose their tails without going into pain-induced
shock... or have digits or entire limbs bitten off and seem essentially okay
with the idea). I once had a box turtle brought to me that had been hit by
a lawn-mower... a 2 inch x .5 inch hole was chopped in the carapace and
lungs and other internal organs were clearly visible and completely
unprotected by any skin or bony shell. After an hour of cleaning the fly
eggs out of the wound... the turtle ATE a full meal. I've heard of similar
stories that involved amputations and yet the animal ate within hours of the
trauma and seemed otherwise normal. Point is... reptiles seem to not detect
pain the same way a mammal would.
Greg
--
Gregory J. Watkins-Colwell
Dept. of Biology
Sacred Heart University
5151 Park Avenue
Fairfield, CT 06432
and
Yale Peabody Museum
Dept. of Vertebrate Zoology
170 Whitney Ave
PO Box 208118
New Haven, CT 06520-8118
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