Do tegus know the time?

[ReptileGuy]

When a tegu is hiding in pitch darkness, can they tell if it is day time or not? Just got a bit curious as flux has conked out and has been sleeping the past 3 days.

 

[Dubya]

I would have to say yes. I saw a study once on TV that had humans living with no clocks or natural light and after
a while, their bodies went to a 25hr sleep/wake schedule.

 

[ReptileGuy]

I would have to say yes. I saw a study once on TV that had humans living with no clocks or natural light and after
a while, their bodies went to a 25hr sleep/wake schedule.

Hmm that's really interesting. Thanks!

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Since animals are more in tune with mother nature and all, they have better clocks then we do.

 

[ReptileGuy]

good point

 

[DavidRosi]

I think to some extent, yes... Although I'd presume in the wild they'd wake with the sunrise; hunt and eat all day then find safety to sleep before night.
I'd be intrigued to know.

 

[Danny]

Underground temps are in sync and fluctuate along with exterior temps of the sun, and spring and fall being the trigger for being awake & sleep "hibernation" for example. Reptiles as we obviously know are "Temp & Light Controlled", longer days = more light with higher consistent temps and shorter days = obviously the opposite. This is why in the house you can control if they hibernate or not. So; in complete darkness if they don't feel a significant change in the temp will determine if they are awake or sleep. More higher temps and more light = Awake, Lower temps and less light = Sleep Double check your Temps ...

 

[Roadkill]

Yes and no. Underground temps are not that tightly in sync with exterior temps (except as a cyclic phenomenon of 24hrs and depending on how deep the burrow is), temperatures can be quite different and latency increases with depth. As Dubya has indicated, most organisms have endogenous biorhythms, and when allowed to "free run", are often longer than a typical 24hr period, they are daily entrained by some zeitgeber to keep on 24hr periodicity. However, in tegus, while these biorhythms will persist for some time without exogenous entrainment, being kept in continuous darkness does promote metabolic depression and hence hibernation. In the wild they actually don't tend to wake with sunrise at all (albeit there can be some argument between waking and activity...), the more noticeable phenomenon is that they don't tend to leave their burrows until external ambient temperatures meet and exceed the burrow's ambient temperature (at night the ambient temperatures outside are typically lower than in the burrow....now how the tegus can tell what the temperature outside is is another question). They also don't typically hunt and eat all day; they have surprisingly short active/foraging hours that are primarily concentrated between two peak periods - late morning and late afternoon. In their natural environment, the mid-day heat combined with direct sunlight is overwhelming and will easily kill them so during the hottest hours of the day they are primarily trying to find safe microhabitats. However, this is admittedly also highly influenced by how resource rich their environment is.