How To Train A Lizard

Ever wonder how to train a lizard? Hillary Busis at Slate’s Browbeat explains how you do it:

Zookeepers can and do train their scaly charges to move around their cages, to stand still, and to open their mouths on demand. To impart these behaviors, keepers use a method called “target training,” in which they teach an animal to associate a “target” (usually a colored disc attached to a stick or a long pole) with an edible treat. Once trainers have achieved association, they can get the animal to move around his exhibit by presenting the target in different locations. They can also train him to stop moving by using a vocal cue—saying “sit,” for example. Training a reptile, then, is not too different from training a dog—at least methodologically.

Zoo employees train their animals in order to facilitate care-giving. Teaching a lizard to hold its mouth open makes it easier to administer medicine, while coaching him to stand still makes it possible to draw his blood for medical tests. Animals that can move on demand are easier to transport. Interacting with trained reptiles is also safer for the keepers.

Although it’s possible to teach reptiles more complicated behaviors—crocodiles can learn how to swim through hoops, for example, and at least one turtle knows how to shake hands and roll over—they’re more difficult to train than mammals or birds. That’s partly because reptile brains are less complex.

–Daniel Strauss