Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Mememe]

Well I'll be damned!

(New Scientist)
Lizards like to keep it in the family
* 15 March 2003

AN AUSTRALIAN skink is the first reptile known to live in a stable nuclear family, where two parents live alongside their juvenile offspring.

Some mammal and bird species, and even a few fish species, are found in similar family units. But the discovery that a reptile also lives this way suggests that the nuclear family could be the ideal arrangement for a whole range of animals.

Dave O'Connor and Rick Shine from Sydney University studied more than 200 black rock skinks at a site in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. Some 83 per cent of all the social groups containing more than one adult included a mating pair, a DNA analysis of the tips of the skinks' tails revealed. What's more, 65 per cent of juveniles lived in family groups with at least one of their parents (Molecular Ecology, vol 12, p 743). Of these juveniles, two-thirds lived with both parents, some for the whole of the three-year-study.

Why they choose nuclear families is not obvious, as reptile parents do not care for their offspring. "We suspect it is linked to protection from being eaten," says O'Connor. "Black rock skinks are aggressive to unrelated juveniles - they're just another food item." Herpetologist Allen Greer at the Australian Museum in Sydney agrees, adding that lizards have a life-expectancy of between 10 and 15 years. They may need to hang out with their parents to stand a good chance of making it to adulthood.
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No man is an Island. Except the Isle of Man.

[Nelson]

Correct me if Im wrong, but arnt Monkey tails and butterfly lizards known to be the same way?

[darren.j.b]

with monkey tails i think its usually just the female that sticks with the neonate, not sure about the butterfly lizards though