• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Problem-Solving Lizards

Problem-Solving Lizards

August 15, 2011
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/110815_sciup_lizard.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Lizards that learn…I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Next time someone calls you a lizard brain, maybe you should say “thanks!” A new study shows that some lizards can solve problems just as well as birds and mammals. Manuel Leal, a behavioral ecologist at Duke University, studied anole lizards native to Puerto Rico. He and his colleagues tasked them with finding a tasty worm hidden under one of two colored caps. Leal says the lizards figured out how to remove the cap — behavior they don’t show in the wild.

MANUEL LEAL (Duke University):

When we first saw it, I was like – oh – this is really surprising because it’s just using something that you really don’t see in nature. It’s a completely new modification to be able to solve this problem.

HIRSHON:

What’s more, the lizards were able to both learn and remember how to do the task.

LEAL:

This idea that lizards are not relatively smart is actually most likely not correct. They actually look to be behaving in a way that is not robotic as most people like to think.

HIRSHON:

I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Animal Behavior, Biology
Previous Post: « Climate Roundup
Next Post: Black Hole Water »

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

Recent Posts

House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket
Biologist E.O. Wilson with children
Diagram showing Earth's tilt

Copyright © 2022 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos