Welcome to the online catalogue of lizard video behaviors.

Some of the images found below are part of a larger CD-ROM multimedia on Animal Behavior.
Credits:

Videos vary in size (video length by screen size) and quality (Number of Colors used). You need a QuickTime viewer (2.1) (standard with the Mac, PC-Users can get it off the WWW from http://quicktime.apple.com/. It is best to be on an ethernet connection (or better) to download the images effectively. These video images are large. If you can only download by modem then start it up and go fix dinner. This library is meant to be a reference library that is suitable for class room instruction, and most videos are quite bulky (0.7-2 MEG). Look for an ultra compressed set of videos (smaller format with less detail, 1 MEG) in the near future which will allow surfers to peruse the list of titles more quickly. Also look for even longer feature length productions that are more elaborate in the near future (> 10 MEG).


All material is copyright protected (© 1996). Material can be freely used for educational purposes with prior consent. Commercial use requires a licensing fee. If you are interested in:

please email Barry, Marianne, and Kristy:
bsinervo@bio.indiana.edu mengle@indiana.edu kcleal@indiana.edu


List of Current Video Titles:

While the typical notion is that males are directing the course of courtship, female cowbirds have a number of options open to them in response to a male's song. Some of these responses prevent the male from being able to establish a vocal history with the female. For example, a female can simply hide herself away from the male. In aviary observations, while males are usually prominent and easily seen, sometimes individual females cannot be found. Go to the overview of the cowbird dating game for more detail on mating strategies.


" FLY AWAY" Often a female will fly away as soon as a male sings to her. This effectively prevents him from singing another song at this location. Flying away from the male sometimes leads to him chasing her, so singing might be resumed in a new location. Quicktime format (millions of colors 318 K).
" FLY AWAY BEFORE SONG" A female can anticipate the male's song by his approach, and she will frequently fly away before he can even begin to sing. In this clip the female leaves as soon as the male moves into position to sing to her.Quicktime format (millions of colors 572K).
"IGNORE" The most frequent response to song by the female is a lack of any overt attention. Her behavior continues as if the male had not sung. Sometimes a male will follow a female for several minutes while singing song after song to her, and she simply ignores him. Quicktime format (millions of colors 1.7 mb).
"LUNGE" This clipshows the female lunging at the male as he sings. The lunge certainly appears to the human eye to be an attempt to chase away the singing male. However, the male seldom leaves after a lunge, and will frequently stay and sing another song, making the function of the lunge unclear. In this clip, the male appears to fly away following the lunge, however, he only moved further down the branch, out of our view. Quicktime format (millions of colors about 1.2 mb. This video is recorded in half-time slow motion).
"RATTLE" The female has a rattling vocalization that she sometimes uses during a song. It's function has not been determined. The rattle may be an attempt to mask the sound of the song, or it may be a signal indicating interest. It is a general response that can also be accompanied by a lunge or by flight, and is sometimes even heard during a sequence of songs that leads to a copulation. (millions of colors about 826 K. This video plays at 25 frames per second in order to capture the speed of the rattle).
"COPULATION" This clip shows the culmination of what is usually several days of constant singing: a successful copulation. A male might sing several hundred songs to an individual female before she will adopt the copulatory posture and mate with the male. Quicktime format (millions of colors about 1.7 mb).
"LONGER COPULATION" This is a longer sequence showing a copulation with several songs leading up to it. (millions of colors 4.3 mb; this will take longer to download).
" MALE/ MALE SONG." "MALE/MALE SONG"Males also sing to one another, as shown in this clip. Male/ male interactions are thought to function in establishing social order. They are also observed by females, and perhaps used to help assess the worth of an individual male.