Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello, I am a parent of a 6th (soon to be 7th) grader who wants to use his pet bearded dragon as a part of his science project. He is thinking of training it to go through a color coded maze.
Here is my question, #1 We haven't been able to find out much about whether or not you can train lizards/bearded dragons to "do" anything and #2 I am unsure if they even see in color. We can't seem to find good research/resources to collect information from...most information is about pet care.
Any suggestions? I thought about using mouse information - because everyone and their brother has run them through a maze.

Hi,

From what I can tell most lizards have color vision. Here are some references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizard

http://www.anapsid.org/sight.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 111626.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=fkNPQ- ... rds&f=true

http://www.askabiologist.org.uk/answers ... php?id=964

Your son might also be interested in this Sciene Buddies Project Idea:

http://www.askabiologist.org.uk/answers ... php?id=964

Here is a website discussing training lizards:

http://reptilebehavior.com/lizard_training.htm

http://worldofbeardeddragons.blogspot.c ... arded.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnoViAGRGsM

http://www.anapsid.org/tamingvh.html

I suggest letting your son follow his interests and instincts on his own as much as possible. Science projects do not have to turn out as “predicted” to be successful. The most important thing is to allow your son to develop his own interests and to find his own passions in life.

I hope he has fun with his project!

Best regards,

Barrett L Tomlinson

Just to add to the advice you've been given, you could actually conduct an experiment to see whether or not your son's bearded dragon sees in color. You would need reptile treats of some sort, and your son could train the animal to stand on construction paper of a particular color in order to get a treat. Then you could offer it several different colors of construction paper to determine if it has a preference for the initial color. You could take some black and white pictures so that you have some idea of what colors might appear similar to the animal if it does see in black and white.

Anyway, that's just a thought. I agree with Barrett--the experience is much more likely to be rewarding if your son finds a topic he's interested in.

Thank you for the suggestions. I agree with you both, I want this to be his choice. As hard as it is for me, I am trying to stay in the background.