Bearded dragons are very popular pets that display a certain level of problem-solving and emotional capacity. Even though beardies are considered social by reptile standards, many people want to know if they are smart.
Bearded dragons are intelligent reptiles that display a significant degree of problem-solving and they can recognize their owners. Due to their level of intuition, they can also learn various things from other reptiles’ actions.
Bearded dragons are brilliant, and they can solve problems by imitating other reptiles. Generally, reptiles are not described as highly social animals, but research proves that they can participate in social learning. Several other studies demonstrate that reptiles are capable of learning by imitation.
Scientists have participated in intensive research, and it’s evident that bearded dragons are intelligent creatures. One of the experiments on the bearded dragons involved a terrarium with two different rooms. In the procedure, the bearded dragons learned how to open the trap door in intelligent techniques.
The definition of “smart” for a bearded dragon is relative. It would help if you understood that these reptiles might not perform certain activities compared to humans. However, they can take specific actions that you may consider very intelligent, including an appropriate recognition of pain or pleasure.
How Smart Are Bearded Dragons?
Bearded dragons are smart enough to imitate other species of reptiles. These animals can remember routines and patterns, which may be suitable in training them. Thanks to their intelligence level, these reptiles can also recognize individuals and respond to negative or positive happenings.
Due to bearded dragons’ smartness, you can use certain routines to tame them when it’s essential. Using this reptile as a pet provides a fascinating experience, and it’s not exhausting as the experience with other less intelligent pets.
Note that communication is a significant sign of smartness. Bearded dragons communicate by changing the color of their beards and making head movements. A bearded dragon’s head movement is called “bobbing,” and when it’s quick, that means dominance.
A slow head bob and arm wave signifies submission. Certain behaviors may indirectly depict the smartness of these reptiles. During season changes, bearded dragons may experience a type of hibernation called brumation.
In the period of brumation, these reptiles stop eating and drinking water. Note that bearded dragons typically experience brumation during the fall or winter as the temperature drops or light changes. Overall, the reptiles exhibit particular behavioral patterns that you may regard as smart.
If you want a bearded dragon for its smartness or any other significant reason, ensure that you create an excellent reptile environment. The most suitable environment for the reptile should depend on its size and age.
Bearded Dragons: Instincts or Logic?
Bearded dragons react to instincts that are closely similar to logic. Generally, reptiles have an innate and specific behavior that signifies their response to a particular stimulus. Bearded dragons are commonly known for their territorial behavior.
As an instinctive display, the adult bearded dragons may display aggression to protect their turfs from the males. They also fight for food or compete to get a female. Note that certain males go against females when they don’t display submissive behavior.
Even though bearded dragons are not highly social animals, they can react to certain events. The experiment on the bearded dragons that involved terrariums proves that these reptiles react on instincts or logic in some scenarios.
Instinct is a fixed action pattern and innate behavior. Bearded dragons are primarily known to perform certain activities that depict reaction on instincts. Note that those actions are not based on their previous experiences, but they are innate.
If you have a bearded dragon as a pet, ensure that you tame it to perform the appropriate acts instead of its conventional innate reactions. When taming a bearded dragon, you may observe that it retreats or jumps on first interaction as a natural reaction, but that’s a sign of fear that fades off with time.
If you want your bearded dragon to react less on instincts, you may need to keep a consistent routine when training the reptile. Human interaction with the bearded dragon may help reduce the negative innate behaviors and develop a better reaction to events.
Are Some Smarter than Others?
Some individual bearded dragons are more intelligent than others. Temperature variations after birth has a significant effect on the intelligence of bearded dragons. Exposing bearded dragons to warmer temperatures in the nest may make them less intelligent than those exposed to the normal temperature.
According to a research team linked to the University of Lincoln, bearded dragons may become less intelligent as the planet heats up due to global warming. A team journal carried out an experiment that involved exposing incubated bearded dragons to a high temperature.
In the experiment, the temperature was warmer than normal but not overly high. The research on the reptiles involved 13 incubated eggs, where six were incubated at 27 degrees Celsius (room temperature), and the other seven were incubated at 30 degrees Celsius.
After hatching, the researchers examined the reptiles’ intelligence by exposing them to a video of a bearded dragon opening a sliding door. They aimed to test if they would imitate that video and successfully open the sliding door. Typically, bearded dragons can open those types of doors. However, the study proves that it’s by learning from another reptile that performs the task.
Eventually, the research result was that lesser reptiles in the warmer pens could open the sliding door. However, those incubated at a normal temperature were more capable of performing the task. The bearded dragons that succeeded in the task of mimicking the reptile performed it at a slow rate.
Do Bearded Dragons Think & Reason?
Bearded dragons don’t think and reason like humans do, but they have a significant intelligence level. These reptiles can learn a specific routine with repeated events, making them easy to tame and useful as pets in the home. However, you shouldn’t expect bearded lizards to perform any task without prior learning.
Bearded dragons may not be capable of reasoning but enjoy daily or weekly human interactions. Thanks to their nature, you can take them out to explore the home, room, and other regions. Most of these reptiles have reasonable reactions when they are in those environments.
Undoubtedly, bearded reptiles may be aggressive, but that is not related to their method of reasoning. The fundamental reasoning ability of bearded dragons is related to territoriality and other common reptile behaviors.
If you observe a change in your bearded dragon’s behavior, it could also be indirectly related to their reasoning level. When the bearded dragon moves around the cage rapidly, it means that they could be going through a significant level of stress.
A stressed or frightened bearded dragon may take any action to be in a better condition. The behavior of a bearded dragon, when it’s stressed, may affect a significant aspect of its reasoning capacity. It’s possible to know when the reptile is stressed by checking for stress marks in the form of dark lines on its belly.
Do They Recognize Their Owners & Names?
Bearded dragons can recognize their owners and names. Many individuals who own these reptiles report that they show recognition when they utter words or enter an area. Bearded dragons are even-tempered when with their owners, which means they don’t get angry quickly.
Most pet owners find it amazing that bearded dragons are smart enough to recognize their owners in various environments. However, how do you know when he or she recognizes you as a pet owner? These reptiles may rush to the glass of the cage to greet you when you are close.
Bearded dragons may also show other signs like head-turning to your direction and boldness when you reach your hand in their cage. You can be confident that your bearded dragon feels a strong bond between you two when you observe any of those signs.
In some cases, you may need to associate the bearded dragons with something that benefits them, like food, to make them recognize their name. If you use the same tone of voice and repeatedly call that name, the bearded dragon will know its name.
If you notice that your bearded dragon doesn’t recognize you as an owner, there’s no cause for alarm. Unlike pets like dogs, the bearded dragons may need consistent patience from you as owners before they finally recognize you. Hence, ensure that you keep to the regular schedule of feeding them and cleaning their habitat.
There are times when your dragon becomes aggressive. Ensure that you handle them properly at such times and stay committed to their conventional routine.
Adoption of Learned Behavior
Bearded dragons will adopt learned behaviors. The primary technique of taming these reptiles and pets is by displaying certain acts that you need them to mimic. According to a study, these reptiles could perform a specific task that they couldn’t until another bearded lizard engaged in the activity.
In a typical experiment involving bearded dragons in a terrarium with two rooms, monitors were available and displayed three videos. The trap doors’ purpose was to ensure that they didn’t enter the room unless they understood how to open the trap door between the two rooms. The three videos displayed:
- Bearded dragons opening the trap door by biting it and moving it in the right direction
- Opening the trap door by biting it and shifting it in the left direction
- A person opening the door for the bearded dragon
The idea of the entire study and three videos was to prove that they adopt learned behaviors as reptiles. The research shows that the reptiles could open the door only when the video showed other bearded dragons shoving the door in the left and right direction.
Note that none of the bearded dragons in the experiment could open the door when they observed a human doing it, meaning that these reptiles can adopt learned behaviors when they come from another bearded dragon and not a human being.
Do Bearded Dragons Have Feelings?
Bearded dragons have feelings capable of experiencing physical feelings from their emotions. Your bearded dragon can experience the feeling of pleasure, pain, or suffering. As pets, they can develop both positive and negative feelings when they encounter an event.
According to certain researchers, it was evident that bearded dragons and other reptiles can experience anxiety, distress, excitement, frustration, stress, and pain. Bearded dragons and other reptiles may also react better to their owners than any other individuals around them.
The feelings that bearded dragons show towards their owners may not be exactly like that of dogs or cats, but they can bond with humans. Note that the level of affection that a bearded dragon display depends on their unique personality.
Some of the common reactions that show bearded dragons have a significant level of feelings include:
- Recognizing individuals, especially owners
- Staying on their owner’s necks
- Sleeping next to the owner’s bed
- Showing excitement by scratching at the cage’s glass
If you own a bearded dragon as a pet, you need to learn the meaning of most of their emotional cues. When you observe the reaching of the head in your direction, it means that you should consider stroking your bearded dragon.
One of the common emotional cues that you may also observe is the opening of the reptile’s mouth, a stiff posture, hissing, and leaping forward in small bursts. Note that if you see the reptile displaying that behavior, the bearded dragon feels threatened and ready to attack.
Conclusion
Bearded dragons are unique reptiles, but they also show emotions like other conventional pets. The significant difference between them and pets like dogs is that you need to teach them things by following a routine.
For a better relationship with your bearded dragon, ensure that you understand the common emotional cues. One of the significant benefits of owning these dragons as pets is that they have a reasonable lifespan, and they are also very friendly.