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In many animal populations, individuals exhibit repeatable behavioral traits across a range of contexts, and similarly, individuals differ in ecological traits such as habitat use, home range sizes, growth rates, and mating success. However, links between an individual's positions on behavioral vs. ecological axes of variation remain relatively unstudied in the wild. In the course of fieldwork on a remote floodplain in tropical Australia, we quantified boldness and ecological traits in 86 free‐ranging (radio‐tracked) monitor lizards (Varanus panoptes). These large (up to 7 kg) lizards exhibited a spectrum of boldness, as reflected in correlated scores of responses to approach, handling, and novel prey. Bolder lizards had larger core home ranges and higher mating success and spent more time in areas of high predator abundance, and their seasonal regimes of predation‐induced mortality differed from those of shyer lizards. Thus, behavioral differences among lizards underpin much of the variation in ecological traits and individual fitness within this population. Analyses of ecology and microevolution in natural populations cannot afford to ignore the complex covariation between behavior, ecology, and evolution in the wild.

Here, we evaluated if visual barriers could reduce intraspecific agonism in an all-male group of Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) living in a zoo. Crocodiles were monitored for nearly 100 h, and four “hotspots” of aggression within their exhibit were identified. Within these four locations, visual barriers were placed at the surface of the water with the goal of reducing agonism by targeting sight lines associated with their species-typical minimum exposure posture, where crocodiles submerge their body but maintain facial sensory organs above the water line. Crocodile behavior was then monitored for 226 h, evaluating both short- and long-term effects of the visual barriers. In both observation periods, intraspecific agonism was unaffected by visual barriers. However, crocodiles were more likely to be on land and closer together, after the barriers were installed, showing the barriers affected nonagonistic behaviors. Monitoring of such unintended effects is significant to ensure no welfare concerns are created in any exhibit or husbandry modification attempt. Additionally, time of day and temperature were significant predictors of behavior, highlighting the importance of such factors in the analysis of reptilian behavior. While ineffective at reducing agonism, this is the first published study evaluating exhibit design and behavior of crocodilians in zoos and aquariums. The methodologies and findings here should provide useful information for future behavioral and welfare studies of this understudied taxa.

BackgroundA large number of snakes are kept as pets in Western societies. Few studies have been undertaken to assess keeping practices of snakes by private owners in Australia. Therefore, there is concern that some owners may not understand even basic husbandry requirements. The aim of this preliminary study was to identify the most common practices used by snake owners in Victoria, Australia.MethodAn online survey asked 251 snake owners to describe ways in which they attempt to meet their snake’s environmental, behavioural, dietary, social and health needs.ResultsFewer than half of participants had an enclosure large enough for the snake to fully stretch out, and just over half had an enclosure large enough to meet the requirements in the Victorian Code of Practice. Only 60 per cent of owners correctly identified their snake’s activity patterns based on information about wild snakes of the same species.ConclusionEducational campaigns may help improve outcomes for snakes in the future, but more research is needed about captive snake husbandry, to provide an evidence base for informing snake management recommendations.

Reptiles are popular as pets and it is, therefore, important to understand how different aspects of housing and husbandry impact on their behaviour and welfare. One potential cause of stress in captive reptiles is interaction with humans; in particular, the effect of handling. However, little research on handling has been carried out with reptiles, particularly relating to the type of gentle handling likely to be experienced by pet animals. The aim of this study was therefore to determine whether the amount of time that bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps), a commonly kept pet species, experienced gentle handling induced no or differing levels of anxiety, as reflected in their subsequent behavioural response to novelty. We found that there appeared to be a mildly aversive effect of handling time on subsequent behavioural response to novelty. Longer durations of handling (5 min or 15 min) appeared to increase anxiety-related behaviour, with handled animals showing more frequent tongue flicking behaviour when they experienced a novel environment and reduced time spent in close proximity to a novel object. These results suggest that handling bearded dragons, even in a gentle way, may increase their anxiety. However, it is not yet known whether animals may habituate to handling for longer periods if provided with additional experience.

Since the early 1990s, morbidity and mortality in tortoise populations have been associated with a transmissible, mycoplasmal upper respiratory tract disease (URTD). Although the etiology, transmission, and diagnosis of URTD have been extensively studied, little is known about the dynamics of disease transmission in free-ranging tortoise populations . To understand the transmission dynamics of Mycoplasma agassizii , the primary etiological agent of URTD in wild tortoise populations, we studied 11 populations of free-ranging gopher tortoises ( Gopherus polyphemus ; n = 1667 individuals) over five years and determined their exposure to the pathogen by serology, by clinical signs, and by detection of the pathogen in nasal lavages. Adults tortoises ( n = 759) were 11 times more likely to be seropositive than immature animals ( n = 242) (odds ratio = 10.6, 95% CI = 5.7-20, P < 0.0001). Nasal discharge was observed in only 1.4% (4/296) of immature tortoises as compared with 8.6% (120/1399) of adult tortoises. Nasal lavages from all juvenile tortoises ( n = 283) were negative by PCR for mycoplasmal pathogens associated with URTD. We tested for spatial segregation among tortoise burrows by size class and found no consistent evidence of clustering of either juveniles or adults. We suggest that the social behavior of tortoises plays a critical role in the spread of URTD in wild populations, with immature tortoises having minimal interactions with adult tortoises, thereby limiting their exposure to the pathogen. These findings may have broader implications for modeling horizontally transmitted diseases in other species with limited parental care and emphasize the importance of incorporating animal behavior parameters into disease transmission studies to better characterize the host-pathogen dynamics.

\"You wouldn’t lick your friend. But this is how geckos tell each other apart! Scientists in Switzerland studied geckos. They looked at the lizards’ sniffing habits. The experts found out that geckos can smell themselves with their tongues!\" (News-O-Matic) Read more about this study of geckos.