On Tuesday, October 28, 2003, at 06:02 PM, Danny Mendez wrote:
I think that without a doubt Monitors are the most intellegent reptiles
out there...this has been proven by behaviors both in and out of
captivity. In fact, Natural History magazine has a featured article
this month on Monitor lizard intellegence and it's quite the fascinating
read..
If varanids are in fact the most intelligent of reptiles, I'm still not sure how they would compare to other animals...and what sort of intelligence are the experiments measuring?
I've watched tree monitors adjust the shape of the digits on their hindquarters to pull crickets out of crevices, pretty impressive, and they seem very aware of their surroundings, but these things are very easy to anthropomorphize.
Crocodilians and some tortoises are in the running too -- for behaviour we recognize as "intelligent"...but a croc or monitor brain is for the most part a targeting system for hunting...how "smart" can they be -- or are we just responding to their display of environmental awareness?
[D]
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