taking your thought further

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Posted by cwatbay on April 24, 2000 at 21:58:14:

In Reply to: Re: eh eh......i knew someone was going to say something.... posted by * IGUANA JOE * on April 24, 2000 at 21:16:25:

It may depend on the position of the animal within it's natural environment. For many monitors and monitor type reptiles, they may be further up the food chain than other animals in their environment. For instance, referring to a Crocodile Hunter episode where Steve ( the nut ) goes around and pesters Komodo Dragons in their native habitat. For the most part the lizards ignore him and/or not afraid. Why ? Well, for millions and millions of years the Komodo has been at the top of the food chain in it's environment - nothing threatens it ( not even Steve Irvwin ).
Many monitor type lizards are not threatened by too many other animals.
However, I think that most reptiles have an instinctual thought pattern that goes like this:
(1)Can I eat you, (2) Can you eat me, (3) a neutral entity ( we don't eat each other ). In a "Can I eat you" situation the lizard may be very agressive ( like a adult saltwater crocodile ) or over a period of time taught, through behavior training and lots of food: the human is not a food source, just leave him/her alone. In the case of igs and other lizards who are closer to the bottom of the food chain, unless you are a vegetable-fruit or insect, then your are going to get an animal that will instintively be afraid of anything bigger than itself or through millions of years of evolution, be naturally afraid. However, again through the same process as the crocodile example, an individual animal can be taught over time, that you are in fact a neutral entity and a provider of positive things ( food, water, comfortable environment ). This would be my way of explaining why some lizards tend to be afraid and wary of humans and why some others are not.
CW

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: It may depend on the position of the animal within it's natural environment. For many monitors and monitor type reptiles, they may be further up the food chain than other animals in their environment. For instance, referring to a Crocodile Hunter episode where Steve ( the nut ) goes around and pesters Komodo Dragons in their native habitat. For the most part the lizards ignore him and/or not afraid. Why ? Well, for millions and millions of years the Komodo has been at the top of the food chain in it's environment - nothing threatens it ( not even Steve Irvwin ). : Many monitor type lizards are not threatened by too many other animals. : However, I think that most reptiles have an instinctual thought pattern that goes like this: : (1)Can I eat you, (2) Can you eat me, (3) a neutral entity ( we don't eat each other ). In a "Can I eat you" situation the lizard may be very agressive ( like a adult saltwater crocodile ) or over a period of time taught, through behavior training and lots of food: the human is not a food source, just leave him/her alone. In the case of igs and other lizards who are closer to the bottom of the food chain, unless you are a vegetable-fruit or insect, then your are going to get an animal that will instintively be afraid of anything bigger than itself or through millions of years of evolution, be naturally afraid. However, again through the same process as the crocodile example, an individual animal can be taught over time, that you are in fact a neutral entity and a provider of positive things ( food, water, comfortable environment ). This would be my way of explaining why some lizards tend to be afraid and wary of humans and why some others are not. : CW

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