PLEASE NOTE THAT AS A RESPONSIBLE BREEDER WE DO NOT PROMOTE THE CO HABITING OF BEARDED DRAGONS, AND RECOMMEND THAT THEY ALWAYS BE HOUSED INDIVIDUALY. SOME OF OUR FEMALE DRAGONS ARE ALLOWED TO CO HABIT, UNDER VERY CONTROLLED CONDITIONS, TO ALLOW US TO BETTER UNDERSTAND BEHAVIOURAL CHANGES THAT ARE TAKING PLACE IN OUR CAPTIVE BRED AMIMALS. THIS SHOULD IN NO WAY BE INTERPRETTED AS ADVOCATING THE CO HABITING OF BEARDED DRAGONS.
Introduction.
I would always recommend that any new Bearded Dragon owner house their beardie on its own, particularly if you are a novice keeper. However, it should always be remembered that these are living sentient creatures. As a breeder I am acutely aware that as we breed to produce particular visual traits we are directing these animals down a controlled evolutionary path that is affecting not only their physical appearance, but also their behaviours and social interactions, and we have a responsibility to be aware of all the changes we are causing, both visual and hidden.
Background.
Co habiting is arguably one of the most controversial aspects of Bearded Dragon keeping. By far the most common argument used for keeping beardies on their own is because they are a solitary animal in the wild and therefore co habiting dragons will fight. Yet, as both a keeper and breeder of Bearded Dragons, I have housed female beardies together for many years, have spent a lot of time studying and researching the behaviour of my dragons, and have never witnessed any of the problems that are reported. It is important to understand that, just like any other animal, Bearded Dragons that are being selectively bred in captivity for specific genetic traits are evolving just like their wild counterparts, but for captive bred dragons this evolution is being artificially driven down a different path to the natural evolution of wild dragons. Whilst the genetic changes that are altering a dragon’s appearance are easy to see, changes to their behaviours and dependencies are a lot more difficult to identify, and as such are often ignored in favour of comparing them to their wild ancestors.
Australia banned the export of its’ native wild animals in the 1960's. It is known that dragons were smuggled out of the country through the 70's, until 1990. Virtually all current captive dragons in the pet trade originated from these smuggled specimens. This means that the dragon you have living in your house is the result of successive captive breeding for 25 - 40 years, over many generations. For sure, if you met a wild dragon in Australia it wouldn't run up to you, run up your arm and settle on your shoulder, or allow you to hand feed it. It would feel threatened, go into a defensive mode and become very aggressive. It may even try to bite you. It is slightly ironic then, that it is their unnatural ‘tame’ behaviours that make beardies so endearing, yet we still want to think of them as wild animals, and judge them by the behaviour of their wild ancestors.
Over the years, breeders have changed the dragons’ colours, scales, patterns, size, and at least some of their natural behaviours, so do we know how much of their wild behaviours are left? At what point do animals cease being wild and become tame or domesticated?
Changing Behaviours and Learning.
A report released in 2014 jointly by Lincoln University and some Hungarian researchers demonstrated that Bearded Dragons could learn through mimicry, something previously only thought to exist in higher order animals (they taught a dragon to open a door to get to its’ food, put it back with a group of untrained dragons, and they all learned to do the same by copying). This shows a level of intelligence in Bearded Dragons that allows them to learn and change their behaviour to suit their environment, and demonstrates that in captive bred animals there is an ability for phenotypical changes to occur as they adapt to new environments and absorb new behaviours. If we then remove the threat of predators and provide plentiful food, is it not reasonable to expect a dragons’ survivalist behaviours to gradually change accordingly?
It is important to note that aggressive behaviour when co-habiting any species of animal is not limited to those whose ancestors lived a solitary life in the wild. The dog’s ancestors, for example, lived in large packs in the wild, yet try housing a group of domesticated pet dogs together in a small enclosed space unsupervised, and fights will still inevitably break out (it is worth noting however, that in the wild it can often be the balance of the sexes that holds a pack together). The critical aspect is the environment and conditions in which animals (any animals) are kept. For any species of animal that co-habits, once the reasons for aggression are understood, the triggers can be removed or controlled. As male dragons reach sexual maturity they go through a phase where they only appear to have 2 things on their mind, eating and making more dragons. A dragon’s readiness (or willingness) to mate is indicated by a series of bodily gestures. It is very much a dominant / submissive activity, and the male dragon’s role in mating can be physically very vigorous. Co-habit mature male and female dragons together and the continual attention the female receives, with limited places of escape, can cause stress and ultimately aggression between the tank mates. Co-habit 2 or more mature male dragons together and they will all try to take the dominant role to become the alpha male. This can result in inflicting physical damage and stress on each other until one becomes submissive. Although I have found that adult males will often calm down as they get older, this is not always the case. But dragons are not by nature an aggressive animal (unless threatened), as can be seen by the ease with which they have adapted to being tamed and domesticated. So trying to co-habit several dragons in an environment that has been created for a single dragon simply won’t work. The key, as with any co habiting animals, is to understand and get the environment right.
The Science Behind the Behaviour.
Genetics, Domestication and Taming.
The Genetic processes operating in an animal’s development work in combination with environment changes to influence not just it’s physical appearance, but also its behaviour. It is the genes that contain the information an animal uses to function, but it is the environment that plays an important role in defining an animal’s displayed phenotype, i.e. an animal’s phenotype is the result of the interaction between its genetics and the environment it lives in. Whether the change to the environment is planned or unplanned, this relationship is often referred to as 'Nature Versus Nurture'.
Domestication is a scientific theory which describes the relationship between animals and the humans who have influence over and responsibility for their care, health and reproduction. The change of traits that make a domestic species different from its wild ancestors were first noted by Charles Darwin, who was also the first to identify the difference between the unconscious evolving of traits through natural selection, and the deliberate selection of specific desirable traits by humans, known as 'selective breeding'. This demonstrated an identifiable genetic difference between domestic and wild populations of the same animal species, to the point where the two lines are no longer able to co-exist in the same environment.
The set of phenotypical traits that arise during domestication that distinguishes an animal from its wild ancestors is often termed 'domestication syndrome', and covers not only behavioural changes such as tameness and docility, but also physical changes such as size, colour and morphology.
It is important not to confuse domestication with taming. Taming is the modification of the behaviour of an individual wild animal so that it accepts the presence of humans. Domestication is the permanent genetic change of an animal to produce an animal with a predisposition towards humans that can be passed on to future generations, through controlled breeding. In other words, whilst taming affects and ends with an individual animal, domestication is a heritable change to an animals phenotype that can be, and is, passed on to subsequent generations.
It is important not to confuse domestication with taming. Taming is the modification of the behaviour of an individual wild animal so that it accepts the presence of humans. Domestication is the permanent genetic change of an animal to produce an animal with a predisposition towards humans that can be passed on to future generations, through controlled breeding. In other words, whilst taming affects and ends with an individual animal, domestication is a heritable change to an animals phenotype that can be, and is, passed on to subsequent generations.
This means that as breeders we are inadvertently driving the evolution of the species we breed, and in some cases these are dramatic evolutionary changes. The intentional selection of the qualities that we want within an animal has led to the development of animals that differ fundamentally from their wild ancestors (referred to as 'artificial selection'). We are moving towards producing genetically modified animals that are, at both a social and biological level, becoming ever more dependent on us for their survival, and are less dependent on the behaviours of their wild ancestors. In other words, any inherited ancestral survival behaviours are being bred out, and are being replaced with a whole new set of dependencies.
Epigenetics.
Epigenetics, in its simplest form, is the study of how external or environmental conditions can cause variations in an animal’s physiological and phenotypical traits. Whilst genetic changes are the result of alterations to an animal’s DNA sequence, thus altering its genotype, epigenetic changes are alterations in a genes expression based on external influences, thus altering its phenotype. The field of epigenetics evolved in the early 1990’s, and has had various vague definitions. A consensus definition of epigenetics was reached in 2008 of “a stable phenotype resulting from changes in a chromosome without alteration in the DNA sequence”. It is still very much an experimental science, but demonstrates how differences in behaviour and personality are influenced by an animal’s environment and experiences. Indeed, a survey of scientists in 2014 showed that many felt epigenetics was a better explanation of behavioural influences on an animal’s phenotype than the older traditional theories of “nature versus nurture”. There have been a number of behavioural epigenetics experiments (admittedly mainly on mammals) that have demonstrated that environmental inputs can affect the expression of genes, and that environmental conditions can influence how a genetic behaviour will actually manifest itself. Importantly these experiments have shown that not only do these epigenetic changes continue throughout an individual’s lifespan, but also that some epigenetic alterations can be passed from one generation to the next, i.e. an individual’s behaviour, and thus it’s phenotype, can be affected by epigenetic changes that took place due to a change to the environmental conditions of an earlier generation. Because epigenetic changes to an animal’s physiology are heritable, this will drive the evolution of captive bred (and domesticated) animals down a different path to that of their wild ancestors. Research has shown that one important area in which traditional genetic inheritance and epigenetic inheritance differ is that epigenetic mutation can occur at a much faster rate than genetic mutation. This concept is vitally important as it demonstrates the possibility of quick, short – term phenotypical adaptions to an environmental change that allows a species to survive long enough for the slower genetic processes to assimilate the change. Thus, when epigenetic physiological changes are taking place the evolvability of a species is much greater.
In Summary.
It is clear from the most basic of observations that many of the behaviours of captive bred Bearded Dragons are already far removed from those of their wild counterparts. It is far too easy to ignore or turn a blind eye to these changes, and just keep doing things the same way because that’s the way it happens in the wild, and because that’s the way we have always done it. But as keepers and breeders we have a responsibility to be fully aware of the changes we are causing in any animals in our care, whether deliberate or accidental, and we should be constantly striving to better understand these changes.
So does this mean that Bearded Dragons can co-habit? Whether a solitary or pack animal, if their environment is not correct any animal can develop aggressive behaviour, and co-habiting animals will often direct that aggression towards each other. Whilst there are plenty of both anecdotal and documented cases of problems when cohabiting Bearded Dragons, there is unfortunately very little information on the environmental conditions that these animals were kept in, and therefore how much this has affected their behaviour. Aggressive behaviour when co-habiting any species of animal can never be totally eliminated (even humans don't have a great track record). So is aggression in co-habiting Bearded Dragons still the result of an historic genetic predisposition, or is it more the result of unsuitable environments? When dragons successfully co habit is this just luck, or is it evidence of epigenetic changes replacing ancestral phenotypical behaviours and traits? It is clear that captive breeding is causing both physical and psychological alterations that are much more complex than mere changes to their outward appearance would suggest, and is a lot more involved than can be explained away by simple comparisons to wild ancestry.
I have the privilege of being able to spend 7 days a week 52 weeks a year with my reptiles. I will continue to keep my female dragons in small groups. I will continue to use the opportunity to study and learn from them, and I will continue to adapt and change their environments as their behaviours dictate.
And Finally.
As a responsible Bearded Dragon breeder my advice to all new owners is to ALWAYS KEEP ANY BEARDED DRAGON ON ITS OWN. If the decision is taken to co-habit, then be aware of the risks you are taking, and be fully prepared for the potential issues this can cause, because you, as the owner, are ultimately responsible for the health and wellbeing of ANY animals in your care.
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