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- Title
Visually Guided Avoidance in the Chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon): Response Patterns and Lateralization.
- Authors
Lustig, Avichai; Ketter-Katz, Hadas; Katzir, Gadi
- Abstract
The common chameleon, Chamaeleo chameleon, is an arboreal lizard with highly independent, large-amplitude eye movements. In response to a moving threat, a chameleon on a perch responds with distinct avoidance movements that are expressed in its continuous positioning on the side of the perch distal to the threat. We analyzed body-exposure patterns during threat avoidance for evidence of lateralization, that is, asymmetry at the functional/behavioral levels. Chameleons were exposed to a threat approaching horizontally from the left or right, as they held onto a vertical pole that was either wider or narrower than the width of their head, providing, respectively, monocular or binocular viewing of the threat. We found two equal-sized sub-groups, each displaying lateralization of motor responses to a given direction of stimulus approach. Such an anti-symmetrical distribution of lateralization in a population may be indicative of situations in which organisms are regularly exposed to crucial stimuli from all spatial directions. This is because a bimodal distribution of responses to threat in a natural population will reduce the spatial advantage of predators.
- Publication
PLoS ONE, 2012, Vol 7, Issue 6, pe37875
- ISSN
1932-6203
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0037875