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Conspecifics as Cues to Territory Quality: A Preference of Juvenile Lizards (Anolis aeneus) for Previously Used Territories

When there is a premium on rapid territory establishment and it is difficult or time-consuming for animals to assess resources directly, they may use conspecific behavior as a cue to territory quality. In particular, the presence of a defending resident on a territory may be used as evidence that the territory is of sufficient quality to warrant territorial defense. In this case, we might expect animals to prefer a previously occupied territory to an equivalent territory that has lacked a resident. Juvenile Anolis aeneus lizards in the field were allowed to view two homesites surrounded by transparent acrylic walls. The experimental homesites each contained an aggressive territory owner; the control homesites had no owner but were otherwise equivalent to the experimental sites. When the enclosure walls and territory owner were removed, lizards from the clearings showed a clear preference for the previously used homesites. Experimental homesites were colonized more rapidly, attracted more visitors, were used for longer periods, generated more fights and chases, and attracted residents from longer distances than control homesites. These results suggest that juvenile lizards consider the presence or absence of previous territory owners when judging the relative quality of newly available territories.