A comparative analysis of diurnal behavioural activities in males of Agama aculeata aculeata and A. planiceps planiceps (Reptilia: Agamidae) in Windhoek, Namibia

Abstract

BILLAWER, W.H., and N.J.L. HEIDEMAN. 1996. A comparative analysis of diurnal behavioural activities in males of Agama aculeata aculeata and A. planiceps planiceps (Reptilia: Agamidae) in Windhoek, Namibia. Afr. J. Herpetol. 45(2): 68–73. Morning, midday and late afternoon behavioural activities of cryptically coloured Agama aculeata aculeata and non-cryptically coloured A. planiceps planiceps males were compared to determine whether the former display significantly lower frequencies of movement than the latter. The types of activities studied, were regarded as either behaviour of low movement intensity (basking, shading, sit-and-wait foraging) or behaviour of high movement intensity (running, walking, detect-and-chase foraging). Apart from the fact that A. p. planiceps shaded itself significantly more frequently than A. a aculeata during morning observation sessions, and that the latter species engaged in sit-and-wait foraging significantly more frequently than the former during midday observation sessions, no significant differences were found between the two species with respect to the rest of the behavioural activities. The findings therefore did not support the generalization that the diurnal behavioural activities of cryptically coloured animals such as A. a. aculeata males, is characterized by significantly lower frequencies of movement, compared to that of non-cryptically coloured animals such as males of A. p. planiceps. The absence of significant differences in behavioural activities recorded during consecutive observation sessions for each species was surprising, especially in cases where mean ambient temperature between sessions differed significantly.