"The visual displays are meant to advertise to other neighboring males that they still occupy their territory," Ord explained. "If a male leaves the area too long, another male will probably try to take his territory over." He said that it's better for the lizards to expend energy displaying their strength and endurance than to put the skills to test in actual combat. "Instead of finding this (information) out in the middle of a fight -- which is a really bad time to find out your opponent is a lot stronger than you -- they can advertise...in their displays and resolve disputes without resorting to fighting at all," Ord said. Judy Stamps, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at UC Davis, told Discovery News that she "was delighted to see this article, because it confirms a vague impression I had years ago when watching lizards in the West Indies, that territorial males were most likely to display the first thing in the morning, and the last thing at night." She agrees with Ord's theories behind the dawn and dusk displays, and added that the lizards might also choose such hours "because these times of day are less favorable for other important activities, such as foraging, or chatting up the females." Related Links: Discovery News blog: Born Animal |
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