Cargando…

Visually Guided Avoidance in the Chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon): Response Patterns and Lateralization

The common chameleon, Chamaeleo chameleon, is an arboreal lizard with highly independent, large-amplitude eye movements. In response to a moving threat, a chameleon on a perch responds with distinct avoidance movements that are expressed in its continuous positioning on the side of the perch distal...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lustig, Avichai, Ketter-Katz, Hadas, Katzir, Gadi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3369868/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22685546
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037875
_version_ 1782235097376751616
author Lustig, Avichai
Ketter-Katz, Hadas
Katzir, Gadi
author_facet Lustig, Avichai
Ketter-Katz, Hadas
Katzir, Gadi
author_sort Lustig, Avichai
collection PubMed
description The common chameleon, Chamaeleo chameleon, is an arboreal lizard with highly independent, large-amplitude eye movements. In response to a moving threat, a chameleon on a perch responds with distinct avoidance movements that are expressed in its continuous positioning on the side of the perch distal to the threat. We analyzed body-exposure patterns during threat avoidance for evidence of lateralization, that is, asymmetry at the functional/behavioral levels. Chameleons were exposed to a threat approaching horizontally from the left or right, as they held onto a vertical pole that was either wider or narrower than the width of their head, providing, respectively, monocular or binocular viewing of the threat. We found two equal-sized sub-groups, each displaying lateralization of motor responses to a given direction of stimulus approach. Such an anti-symmetrical distribution of lateralization in a population may be indicative of situations in which organisms are regularly exposed to crucial stimuli from all spatial directions. This is because a bimodal distribution of responses to threat in a natural population will reduce the spatial advantage of predators.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3369868
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2012
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-33698682012-06-08 Visually Guided Avoidance in the Chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon): Response Patterns and Lateralization Lustig, Avichai Ketter-Katz, Hadas Katzir, Gadi PLoS One Research Article The common chameleon, Chamaeleo chameleon, is an arboreal lizard with highly independent, large-amplitude eye movements. In response to a moving threat, a chameleon on a perch responds with distinct avoidance movements that are expressed in its continuous positioning on the side of the perch distal to the threat. We analyzed body-exposure patterns during threat avoidance for evidence of lateralization, that is, asymmetry at the functional/behavioral levels. Chameleons were exposed to a threat approaching horizontally from the left or right, as they held onto a vertical pole that was either wider or narrower than the width of their head, providing, respectively, monocular or binocular viewing of the threat. We found two equal-sized sub-groups, each displaying lateralization of motor responses to a given direction of stimulus approach. Such an anti-symmetrical distribution of lateralization in a population may be indicative of situations in which organisms are regularly exposed to crucial stimuli from all spatial directions. This is because a bimodal distribution of responses to threat in a natural population will reduce the spatial advantage of predators. Public Library of Science 2012-06-07 /pmc/articles/PMC3369868/ /pubmed/22685546 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037875 Text en Lustig et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Lustig, Avichai
Ketter-Katz, Hadas
Katzir, Gadi
Visually Guided Avoidance in the Chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon): Response Patterns and Lateralization
title Visually Guided Avoidance in the Chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon): Response Patterns and Lateralization
title_full Visually Guided Avoidance in the Chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon): Response Patterns and Lateralization
title_fullStr Visually Guided Avoidance in the Chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon): Response Patterns and Lateralization
title_full_unstemmed Visually Guided Avoidance in the Chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon): Response Patterns and Lateralization
title_short Visually Guided Avoidance in the Chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon): Response Patterns and Lateralization
title_sort visually guided avoidance in the chameleon (chamaeleo chameleon): response patterns and lateralization
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3369868/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22685546
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037875
work_keys_str_mv AT lustigavichai visuallyguidedavoidanceinthechameleonchamaeleochameleonresponsepatternsandlateralization
AT ketterkatzhadas visuallyguidedavoidanceinthechameleonchamaeleochameleonresponsepatternsandlateralization
AT katzirgadi visuallyguidedavoidanceinthechameleonchamaeleochameleonresponsepatternsandlateralization