2023-05-18 11:08:23
MADRID, 18 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
A new study has shown that in the case of the Gila monster, a large venomous lizard, encounters between females are much more intense and violent than the interactions between males.
When male Gila monsters fight, according to corresponding author A. Kristopher Lappin, professor of Biological Sciences at California State Polytechnic University, it is largely a ritualized contest.
“Males basically fight. They can bite each other, but as far as we know, they don’t bite each other aggressively in a way that could cause significant damage. With the females, we know based on testing that they will, they bite violently. In all tests, the females were immediately engaged. In three of the four interactions, the encounters had to be interrupted before they could do significant damage to each other,” he explains. it’s a statement.
Published in Royal Society Open Science, this is the first study to document this behavior in the iconic Gila monster, native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Gila monsters are orange and black lizards with bead-like scales and huge teeth. They can grow up to almost 70 centimeters long, making them the largest native lizard in the United States.
The study involved adult members in two captive colonies. Behavioral data was combined with data from bite force experiments to assess whether their osteoderms (well-developed bone deposits in the skin) can meet a protective function during aggressive interactions.
In each of the tests, the females first exhibited tongue flicking, hissing, poking, and scratching, followed by body inflation. “With further escalation, a sustained bite occurred, followed by lateral rotation (LR). LR resembles the so-called ‘death roll’ of crocodiles,” the study noted. Each time LR was observed, the trial was stopped to prevent potential serious injury. No Gila monster was permanently injured in the tests.
While the authors expected some degree of aggression among the females, they were surprised by both the rapidity with which they initiated aggressive behavior and the complexity and intensity of the aggression. Furthermore, despite the growing literature on self-resistance to poison in animals, Gila monsters that were bitten and poisoned “were markedly compromised both physically and behaviorally over a prolonged period, although recovery was complete without the need for medical intervention“, according to the study.
No member of the team had previously observed LR or poisoning in male-male aggression in captivity or in the field.
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