Self-control is the ability to exert control over thoughts and actions, not succumb to temptation and stay on track to achieve a goal. Without it, we would get stuck in routines and old habits, never able to move on.
Sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosa asper) are a native Australian skink species that mainly occurs in harsh, dry habitats in which rainfall is restricted to a few months every year and even then it is unpredictable and scarce.
Because they live in such a harsh habitat, sleepy lizards need to be particularly well adapted to find food and water. One beneficial adaptation could be good self-control. By nature, food sources are ephemeral and get depleted after one or a few visits. Such depleted sources should be avoided quickly in times when resources are hard to come by and energy should not be wasted revisiting empty food patches. Lizards should stop visiting these depleted food patches fast, and instead,
search for new patches.
Our study found evidence for just such behaviour: Compared to a closely related species, the eastern blue-tongue skinks which lives in environments with a greater abundance of resources, sleepy lizards are much better at adjusting to changing conditions during a visual learning task. After an unexpected rule change, sleepy lizards quickly switch tactic and stop responding to old information while blue-tongue skinks get stuck and keep responding to the outdated rule.
Such response inhibition, an integral part of self-control, is found in many animals and is frequently enhanced in species that face unpredictable conditions. Our study is just a small step in the right direction and will hopefully spark further investigations into how environmental factors shape cognitive ability in lizards or reptiles in general.
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