Prey Odor Discrimination in the Varanoid Lizards Heloderma suspectum and Varanus exanthematicus

Abstract

AbstractUse of chemical senses to detect prey is believed to be an important component of foraging behavior in actively foraging lizards. Ability to detect prey odors and discriminate them from control odors by tongue‐flicking was studied in representatives of two families of lizards having highly forked, elongated, retractile tongues. Responses of gila monsters (Heloderma suspectum) and savannah monitors (Varanus exanthematicus) to deionized water, a control for pungency (cologne), and mouse odor on cotton swabs were studied in experiments using repeated‐measures designs and employing the tongue‐flick attack score (TFAS) as the primary measure of response strength. TFAS differed among treatments for gila monsters and monitors. Both species had greater TFAS to mouse odors than to either of the control stimuli, but responses to cologne were not statistically distinguishable from those to water. Numbers of tongue‐flicks elicited by prey odors were greater than those for control stimuli in V. exanthematicus, but not for H. suspectum. Gila monsters, but not savannah monitors, bit in a significantly greater proportion of tests with prey odors than with control stimuli. Details of responses, including frequency of biting, apparent search behavior in the vicinity of applicators bearing mouse odors, and responses to control stimuli are discussed in relation to the foraging behavior of these two species and their relatives. Evidence from this and other studies suggests that the vomeronasal sense (and perhaps other chemical senses) is an important means of locating and recognizing prey in widely foraging autarchoglossan lizards.