BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/sc ... il0=y&_r=2

Pretty interesting. They didn't come up with any results that were shocking to those of us familiar with reptiles,, but it should help our understanding of their cognitive abilities as research continues.

Hopefully studies like this get some of the more ignorant members of society to understand that reptiles aren't stupid, brainless creatures. I will say that I was surprised that the anoles were smart enough to lift the cap. Very interesting read!

Awesome article, I've always wanted to know more about their intelligence level. It's great that we're adapting tests that are more conducive to the learning style of reptiles. Maybe i'll try to develop some of my own.

I would be interested to know what feat our blue tongue could accomplish.

Considering they would do anything for food, I would guess a LOT..

To me it has always made perfect sense that animals were intelligent rather than some instinct driven automatons. Anyone who has been around a number of animals can tell you that they behave in unique ways and even species known to be fairly unintellingent have basic problem solving skills. How else could these species survive for millions of years? I would love to perform some intelligence tests on Chewy, but I am pretty sure he would just tell me to shut up and give him the blueberry already . Clearly he is intelligent; he has me trained quite well.

Interesting post concerning new information about animal intelligence and brain structure in birds and reptiles:
http://jonlieffmd.com/blog/lizards-aren ... this-smart


Oh and apparently the cap study is at least a few years old and in trials the anoles performed better than birds including crows (known for their intelligence):
http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0712-hanc ... zards.html

I also found this interesting article on the social life of another Australian skink species:
http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0531-mouk ... skink.html

I've just recently found this post while researching Blue Tongue intelligence for a school science fair project. I'm definitely going to try similar tests with my Blue Tongue Monstro. I would love to see what he can accomplish when presented with a puzzle to solve. Would love to see him do more than sleep all day .