Sleeping Habits of the Eastern Fence Lizard, Sceloporus Undulatus Hyacinthinus (Sauria, Iguanidae)

Kennedy, J. P.

doi:10.2307/3669040

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Some individuals, however, slept in one place most of the time, only occasionally sleeping in another place. Fidelity to particular sleeping sites has been noted in Sceloporus undulatus (Kennedy 1958) and in Tropidurus albemarlensis (Stebbins et al 1967). Stebbins and Barwick (1968) observed a single individual Varanus varius for several days and concluded that it was familiar with the hollow trees that it used for sleeping.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…As late as 1958, it was noted that there was little knowledge of the sleeping habits of diurnal lizards (Kennedy 1958). In 1967, Regal found that lizards kept in a temperature gradient in the laboratory voluntarily sought hypothermic conditions at night, but he noted that there were no field data to support the hypothesis that reptiles voluntarily undergo hypothermia at times during the day.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Physiological and Ecological Consequences of Sleeping‐Site Selection by the Galapagos Land Iguana (Conolophus Pallidus)

Christian¹,

Tracy²,

Porter³

1984

Ecology

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Field observations and biophysical models were combined to analyze sleeping—site selection by Galapagos land iguanas (Conolophus pallidus). Iguanas slept in different kinds of sleeping sites during different seasons. In the coolest season (garua), adults land iguanas were found in sleeping sites that were warmer than the coolest sites a available. This may be because the garua season (cool, overcast, and foggy) is a time when environmental conditions mitigate against rapid warm—up in the mornings, so lizards may regulate nighttime body temperatures so that it is easier to warm up to preferred daytime body temperatures. In the warmest season, adult iguanas were found in the coolest sleeping sites available. This observation is consistent with hypotheses of voluntary hypothermia, which can be advantageous in energy conservation and in avoiding detrimental effects associated with maintenance of constant body temperatures throughout the day and night. Juvenile iguanas were found sleeping in rock crevices regardless of the ambient thermal environments. Such sites are likely to be important as refugia for this life stage, which, unlike the adult stage, is vulnerable to predation. We conclude that selection of sleeping sites is a process that may help in avoidance of predation, optimization of body temperature at the end of the sleeping period, and reduction of metabolic costs during sleeping. The importance of some of these factors may change with the thermal milieu (e.g., season).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological and Ecological Consequences of Sleeping‐Site Selection by the Galapagos Land Iguana (Conolophus Pallidus)

Christian¹,

Tracy²,

Porter³

1984

Ecology

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“…We find evidence of a certain degree of fidelity to sleeping perch in the case of Coryphophylax subcristatus (similar to Kennedy 1959;Clark and Gilingham 1990;Reaney and Whiting 2003;Singhal et al 2007). It is probable that they use multiple locations within a certain range, to which they return every night.…”

Section: Site Fidelitysupporting

confidence: 56%

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Supplemental Information 2: Raw Data on Sleeping Behaviour of Coryphophylax Lizards Collected From Andaman Islands

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Sleeping exposes lizards to predation. Therefore, sleeping strategies must be directed towards avoiding predation and might vary among syntopic species. We studied sleeping site characteristics of two syntopic, congeneric lizards -the Bay Island forest lizard, Coryphophylax subcristatus and the short-tailed Bay Island lizard, C. brevicaudus and evaluated inter-specific differences. We measured structural, microclimatic and potential predator avoidance at the sleeping perches of 386 C. subcristatus and 185 C. brevicaudus.Contrary to our expectation, we found similar perch use in both species. The lizards appeared to use narrow girth perch plants and accessed perches by moving both vertically and horizontally. Most lizards slept on leaves, with their heads directed towards the potential path of a predator approaching from the plant base. There was no inter-specific competition in the choices of sleeping perches. These choices indicate an anti-predator strategy involving both tactile and visual cues. This study provides insight into a rarely studied behaviour in reptiles and its adaptive significance. 154 and the head direction (inward, outward or perpendicular) of the lizards. We classified the head 155 direction (Fig. 3) with respect to the trunk when the perching substrate was a branch (e.g., inward 156 = head towards the trunk), with respect to the petiole when the substrate was a leaf (e.g., outward 157 = away from the petiole/plant base; perpendicular = across the leaf axis), and with respect to the 158 ground if the substrate was the trunk (e.g., outward = away from the ground). We measured 159 distance to nearest plant in the escape direction of the individual. The escape direction of an 160 individual was assumed to be between 0 о to 180 о in front of its head (NPM and SH personal 161 observations). The nearest point on the adjacent plant was considered to be on the same plane as 162 or below the lizard. We measured all distances using a measuring tape with 0.1 cm precision. Inter-specific and intra-specific variations 226 We found significant differences in perch characteristics between the two species but effect sizes 227 in all the comparisons were small ( Table 2). The two species showed distinct patterns in the way 228 they accessed perches (Fig.4). While both species moved similar distances vertically, C.229 subcristatus accessed perches away from the trunk (Fig.4). In contrast, C. brevicaudus used 230 perches close to the trunk (Fig.4). We found that vertical distance contributed relatively more to the total distance moved 232 than horizontal distance (Fig.4). After controlling for girth of perch plants, body size positively 237 brevicaudus (R 2 = 0.01, β = -2.13, SE = 1.65, p = 0.19) and had a statistically significant but 238 small effect size in case of C. subcristatus (R 2 = 0.02, r = -0.14, β = -2.1, SE = 0.73, p = 0.004). 239We found no difference between males and females of C. subcristatus with respect to 243 Site fidelity 244 We redetected eight out of the ten marked individuals of C. subc...

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“…We find evidence of a certain degree of fidelity to sleeping perch in the case of Coryphophylax subcristatus (similar to Kennedy, 1959 ; Clark & Gillingham, 1990 ; Reany & Whiting, 2003 ; Singhal, Johnson & Ladner, 2007 ). It is probable that they use multiple locations within a certain range, to which they return every night.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%