Lizard Mystery

Some birds and insects can detect polarized light from the sun, which gives them a way to sense direction. And some animals can use Earth’s magnetic field.

So the team glued tiny magnets to the heads of anoles.

The lizards still came back. Same percentage. Same time period.

Then the researchers created caps with pieces of Ping-Pong ball, and attached them with surgical glue and cork as a cushion, to the heads of the anoles to interfere with polarized light that might reach an organ in the brain called the parietal eye. Some research has shown that lizards can detect polarized light with that organ, not with their regular eyes.

The team didn’t just block all light to the parietal eye, because it controls the daily rhythms of the lizard. Block it completely, Dr. Leal said, and “after a day they just stop moving.” They are normally quiet at night. If it is always night for them, they stay quiet.

And how did the lizards do with the Ping-Pong ball hats?

They came back. Same percentage. Same time period.

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