IF you鈥檙e looking for a fruit-laden tree, head for the nearest flock of
birds. That鈥檚 the strategy adopted by flat lizards (Platysaurus
broadleyi) in South Africa.
Martin Whiting of the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria hung cages, some
containing birds and some empty, in fruitless fig trees. He also placed cages on
rocks. In both cases, the lizards converged on cages with birds, Whiting says in
a paper due to appear in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. This
could help them find food, as fruit-laden trees will attracts lots of birds.