|
Title: Iguana vs Snakes - References supporting innate knowledge of newborns Post by: bluejay007 on Nov 12, 2016 I guess most people by now have seen the BBC clip showing a hatched Galapagos marine iguana narrowly avoid becoming dinner for a swarm of racer snakes. Near the start of the clip it is implied by the narrator that the hatched iguana 'knows' not to produce vibrations that might be sensed by the snakes (I qualify the term 'know', because I realise that it might simply be a behavioural adaptation and not strictly knowledge as humans define it).
Does the iguana really stay still to avoid detection by snakes, or has the narrator employed some poetic licence here with what might in actuality be a rather dopey iguana? Can anyone suggest scientific studies that deal with the theory that newborns (of any species) instinctively 'know' the unique and complex hunting strategies/capacities of predators beyond simple stimulus-response behavioural patterns? Thanks. |