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Global warming = smarter lizards, says Maple Ridge researcher

But Joshua Amiel says the human race need not fear an uprising by super intelligent reptiles
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The lizards were born in controlled incubators to determine the effect of temperature on cognitive abilities.

Joshua Amiel has been dealing with cold-blooded creatures since he was child in Maple Ridge, so it’s no surprise the PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, Australia, has chosen a career in herpetology.

“My parents used to take me down to the dikes in Pitt Meadows, and I’d catch snakes and frogs,” he says. “I guess I never grew out of that.”

A recent study Amiel co-authored has garnered international attention in recent weeks. Amiel’s research suggests lizards born from eggs that have been incubated at higher temperatures are not only physically bigger, but more intelligent, as well.

“Most of my work focuses on the environmental effects of temperature change,” says Amiel.

With temperatures rising all over the world, his research, which is funded by the National Research Council of Canada, could help predict how animal populations might change.

“The treeline is moving north in North America, so this could predict species movement,” he says.

The Thomas Haney secondary grad has been interviewed by the BBC, and his study has been reported on by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Sydney Morning Herald, Wired.com, Science Now, and Cosmos magazine in the past week.

While much scientific research has focused on the relationship between incubation temperatures and physical characteristics of reptiles, little work has been done to test their intelligence.

“What we’re seeing is that may affect brain development, too,” says Amiel.

His study looked at two different groups of a particular Australian lizard species called the three-striped skink (bassiana duperreyi); one group incubated at a temperature of 16C and the other at 22C.

Amiel and his research group tested the lizards’ intelligence by having them seek shelter when threatened. The lizards were given two options of where to hide: in a bin resembling an overturned flowerpot with a hole large enough for the lizard to enter, or an identical shelter with the hole blocked by a transparent plastic.

The research group observed the lizards from warmer incubation group consistently found the appropriate shelter faster, and made fewer mistakes doing so, suggesting higher temperatures may produce smarter lizards.

Data collected from lizard nests in Australia have shown a steady rise in temperatures over the past 15 years, likely due to climate change.

The human race need not fear an uprising by super intelligent reptiles with the onset of global warming, however.

“Unless these guys grow opposable thumbs, we should be alright,” says Amiel.

Amiel stresses his research is only in the preliminary stages, and the results he observed don’t suggest a general trend for a lizards.

“Right we are looking at doing a larger scale study, so we are looking at a number of different ways to test their intelligence,” he says.

Amiel currently has 600 lizard eggs incubating for his next round of testing.

“Ultimately, we want to see what ecological effects will have on these species,” says Amiel.