A team of zoologists from Australia and China has discovered whether round-headed lizards use their 'collars' — transverse skin folds — to signal other lizards of their species. The article with the observation results is published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.
The round-headed lizard is a desert lizard found in southern Russia, Central Asia, and China. The most notable feature of this reptile is the bright skin folds around its mouth. In normal life, they are inconspicuous, but when a predator attacks the round-headed lizard, it unfolds the folds, visually increasing its size.
Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Australian National University aimed to determine whether round-headed lizards use their false 'ears' to attract individuals of the opposite sex or to deter their relatives.
The researchers conducted several experiments in the Tukay Desert. They placed lizards in open enclosures and introduced individuals of different sexes to them. Herpetologists concluded that the animals do not use the transverse folds at the corners of their mouths to interact with other round-headed lizards.
The scientists also tested whether round-headed lizards use their 'ears' for defense against predators. They conducted experiments on the lizards both in open enclosures and in their natural habitat. In the first case, most round-headed lizards escaped from a simulated predator by fleeing, while lizards in their natural environment unfolded their skin folds to confuse the enemy.
