I notice he keeps his hand well away from the monster’s mouth. Did it really express joy at hearing its name called, or does it just know where the food comes from?
I’m always careful to show my cat the grocery receipt for just that reason. See who paid for your food? See?
I wonder how much behavior is genetically encoded. Would it be possible to make custom-personality pets? Get a lizard with more dog-like behavior that can be trained? Possibly a (relatively) super-intelligent one?
Our water turtles certainly can recognize me (primary caregiver)… It gives my wife and my niece much joy when they see the turtles’ reaction when I walk into their room – a frenzied me me me me (as opposed to attentive disinterest for others).
Conversely, when they are up sunning themselves they will blissfully ignore my entrance, but go into extreme stranger danger mode if anybody else enters.
My aunt-in-law has a turtle that comes “running” when she calls his name.
these are all threat displays. that is NOT a happy iguana.
source: used to rescue reptiles from bad situations. have been charged and huffed at by more than a few of them.
I was knocked outta bed
Late last night
I was woken up by the sound of dynamite
I ran downstairs to find an army man
He said “We gotta blow up those things we don’t understand!”
If so, that was a damn half-hearted charge.
About as close we’re going to get to Dino
Lizards don’t love you back.
I don’t know about lizards, but this kid, Stuart, that lives next door has a really cool burrow owl.
That was my exact thought as well watching it.
But, if he was less careful I am sure he would have played it off as Mr. Snugglekins giving a love bite.
Yes, absolutely. You will find I think that a Rottweiler has a very different personality from a Dalmatian, and that’s not simply nurture. A Border Collie will start herding things by instinct, even generations away from the nearest sheep.
However, these are the results of hundreds of years of selective breeding, not just a quick trip to the DNA factory.
So just about time to analyze the DNA code differences, decode the “language”, and have custom personalities without the generations of manual selection and with better control.
To the laboratory, Igor!
it’s also fat as hell.
Yeah, that’s a “get your hand off me” not joy. Some reptiles can learn to enjoy being handled (Bearded Dragons, Tegus). Iguanas really don’t appreciate it, and that open mouth/head turn is a threat to bite if the human doesn’t back off.
Not quite as anthropomorphically expressive as a dog though really is it?
Yah. I like Stuart. He’s not like the other kids here, in the trailer park.
Been looking for an excuse to post this:
My wife used to have a hamster that she could take on walks like a dog - she would often leave it loose around the apartment, but it would come back when she called it. I once had a duckling that adopted me as it’s mom - it would walk behind me to the stream, then follow me back when I had to leave. I had longish curly hair at the time, so it loved sitting in it like a nest, or standing on my shoulder like a parrot. It seemed scared of the other ducks for a while and would just swim alone near me, but I think in the end it got used to them.
Is there a German word for “Cuteness that makes one hopeful and sad”? You’re a speaker right?
