Cricket contest

[Kayla Roy]

This is Monkey, my baby dunner bearded dragon who is Napping with his pet cricket on his head. He refuses to eat this cricket yet demolishes all the others. They sleep like this every night.

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[Zoodulcis]

That’s just crazy!! And adorable. How long has this been going on?

[Kayla Roy]

Thank you 🙂 About 10 days now. I have never seen such an odd pair in person. I’m not sure what sparked this friendship but I’m here for it. They sleep together, bask together, chase each other around the tank together.. just your typical inseparable bffs.

[Zoodulcis]

I have to say it, this is a new one on me. Reminds me of a documentary called “Heart of a Lioness.” A lioness who had just lost both of her cubs adopted a baby wildebeest who was recently orphaned. By all rights she should have eaten it. But she raised it and they were inseparable for about a year. Then a male lion killed it and she cried and moaned for weeks afterward, looking for it in all their usual places to hang out. It was a real tear-jerker.

I will be so very curious to know how long this unlikely friendship between Jiminy Cricket and your beardie lasts. You may have to rename him Pinnochio!!

[Kayla Roy]

Lol I will certainly have to check out that movie. I will say this little one is like no dragon I have ever had/cared for. He got his name from running as fast as he can up the side of his tank and scaling the ceiling like a gecko, hence the name “monkey” and when he’s ready to get down he just decides to fully let go and hope for the best. But it will most certainly be interesting to see how this friendship develops or lasts. I’m a tad nervous for the day he accidentally mistakes him for a snack. Can a bearded dragon get depression or separation anxiety ? Until then I now have an extra roommate.

It’s a little tough to see in the photo, I had to capture what I could fast before he got down.

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[Zoodulcis]

Any animal can have depression or anxiety. These are not psychological disorders that are the strict purview of humans. These feelings are not even disorders, but can be very adaptive under the right circumstances. For instance, an animal that has no kinship bonds will suffer no slings and arrows at the loss of a blood relative. OK, fine. But ties of kinship mean that an organism will act in a manner that promotes gene replication. The purest gene replication is, of course, through one’s own offspring. But there is a certain amount of evolutionary sense for an animal to feel affinity for, and friendship toward, one’s own kind in general. But that implies a framework, a template, for caring. Under certain circumstances, that template can be highjacked and filial affinity toward a totally inappropriate species can be engendered. Higher-order thought, such as that which makes philosopher’s out of monkeys, is not necessary for an animal to feel bonds of attachment, and depression or anxiety when those bonds are broken. This is an emerging field of ethology that is very exciting, especially so since many religious and cultural assumptions concerning humans as distinctively different from animals in all ways are being broken down, and broken through. So the less professorly answer is…sure. Maybe your beardie was traumatized at some point in his young life and has chosen this particular animal to assist him with coping. Or perhaps they just like the way each other smells!! Who can be sure, but what a fun adventure in animal behavior you have ahead of you!

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