Lizards are generally perceived as "unloving" parents, cause once the eggs are laid, the offspring are on their own. Yet, nature has again provided examples where species of lizards would form family groups. The article Lizards Have Family Values by O'Hanion describes the desert night lizards that group together under the logs are often genetically related, which can be proven through DNA analysis. This familial grouping also seem to coincide with lizards that have viviparity (live birth rather than egg-bearing), which results in fewer offspring that may live with longer lifespan. These desert night lizards do bear live offspring and tend to live long, as the subjects studied in the articles were found to be about 20 years old. Basically, these lizards are also playing the parent game in order to insure their species' survival, just like the other mammals and birds that are so different in physiology.
For me, I never heard of lizards actually forming family groups to care for young and each other (although one time I have heard that a group of related males worked together to obtain females and deterred other competition). Although the details weren't exactly clear on the exact behaviors involved (tested mostly on DNA of groups huddled during winter), it provides compelling evidences that a family system can be established. Even siblings could recognize each other! Since this was newly discovered, the actual interactions within a family system is not really known. Yet within a family system, there has to be some kind of communication just like in every family group. Do they communicate through a combination of movement, visual cues, sounds or pheromones? Do these communications further bond the family system? How does a lizard family group interact with each other? I am sure with future research that these questions would be answered, now that people know lizards can have a family just like us… just a cold-blooded one…
The Article: Lizards Have Family Values
Posted By: Leona Chan (Group A, Due:10/19/10)
