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Science 18 February 1977:
Vol. 195. no. 4279, pp. 689 - 691
DOI: 10.1126/science.195.4279.689
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Articles

Social Behavior in Hatchling Green Iguanas: Life at a Reptile Rookery

GORDON M. BURGHARDT 1, HARRY W. GREENE 2, and A. STANLEY RAND 3

1 Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37916
2 Department of Zoology, University of Tennessee
3 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 2072, Balboa, Canal Zone

Hatchling green iguanas (Iguana iguana) emerge from the ground in small groups in a communal nesting area on a small Panamanian islet and engage in complex social interactions. Iguanas from different clutches often join together before and during departure from the nest site. They also usually move around the islet and migrate from it to the larger adjacent landmass in social groups. These and other observations indicate that the sophistication of saurian social organization and neonate behavior has been underestimated.

Submitted on May 21, 1976
Revised on September 8, 1976


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Transfer of Fermentative Microbes Between Generations in a Herbivorous Lizard.
K. TROYER (1982)
Science 216, 540-542
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)