We say things like “lizard brain” to describe crocodiles and other dangerous reptiles. As in they can’t be trained or don’t have feelings. Is this actually the case? What about lizard brain in the context of turtles & tortoises?
In: Biology
Only ever heard “lizard brain” in the context of humans tbh.
However, the question you’re asking here can still be answered. Firstly, “feelings” are irrelevant. It’s impossible to do objective study on animal emotions, so we can only look at their physical sensations, instincts, learning ability and responses.
We don’t know that much about reptile intelligence, because historically studies on it have usually put them through trials designed for mammals. Reptiles respond to stimuli differently to mammals (for example, they tend to freeze up in response to bad things, instead of running away), so tests designed for mammals don’t do a very good job of measuring the abilities of a reptile. It’s kind of like measuring a fish’s speed by putting it on a dog running track. Recent studies have indicated that reptiles are a lot smarter than we originally gave them credit for.
Reptiles can be trained to do tasks they think are in their own interests, like navigating a maze efficiently for the sake of finding a warm environment, but since they’ve evolved to really care a lot about conserving energy (since they lack internal heating) you can’t usually train them to do the silly tricks that you often see dogs trained to do. Reptiles can often seem even lazier than cats, but that’s just because they experience life much slower.
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