EEB267H1 Lecture 16: Squamates
9 Mar 2017
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Common wisdom: squamates are not social and therefore do not form pair bonds. Starting to see at least one group of skinks form social groups. Individuals form monogamous single family groups: monogamous: 85% for 3 years at least up to 3 generations of spring, delayed dispersal 2-3 years, unheard of assumption is that squamates are promiscuous. Bask together, use the same scat sites. Mother recognize their offspring and vice versa. Sleepy lizards may bond for over 20 years: banding data. Offspring stay in parent"s home range for 1-2 years. Mothers recognize their offspring and vice versa. Hibernaculum den where snakes gather up and stay together: hibernate in the winter, emerge at the same time. Closely related pregnant females bask together in birthing rookeries. May be more widespread in squamates than we thing: there are 19 examples. One thing that all observations have in common: social slecies are almost all viviparous (17/19: the other 2: oviparous mothers guard the eggs.
