Lizard hearing, can they hear us?

[Daniel.michelle]

So I was doing a bit of searching on the net and found this and thought it was very interesting.


"Most of the lizards for whom data has been collected show that most hear in the same range as does the green iguana (Iguana iguana), whose picks up sounds in the 500-4,000Hz range, with a peak sensitivity at 700 Hz, equal to about 24 dB. With fossorial forms (such as Holbrookia maculata) (lesser [Northern] earless lizard) and others lacking a tympanic membrane, hearing is limited to lower frequencies and requires louder sounds (stimulation) to be detected. Other eared species, such as Gerrhonotus (alligator lizards) have both high sensitivity over a wider range, while others, such as the Lepidophyma sylvaticum (Madrean tropical night lizard), has the high sensitivity but over a smaller range in the lower frequencies. Gekkonids who vocalize have both high sensitivity and high frequency, up into the 10,000Hz range."


http://www.anapsid.org/reptilehearing.html

And I got to wondering, 500-4000 Hz hearing range? Human hearing range is between about 50 and 20,000 Hz, depending on which website you click.

Well, what frequency do humans speak?
Well, we talk between 85 for a typical adult male at the lowest, and 255 at the highest for a typical adult female.

https://www.google.com/#q=human+speech+frequency

So according to this, does that mean that our lizards can't hear us? To me it makes sense, my sav was easily clicker trained, (and I kept calling his name out like an idiot. I think there's a YouTube vid of it too somewhere lol). But he could never learn his name. Now, when I try to entice him out of his burrow, I usually either need food that smells good, tap on his burrowing space water trough(making vibrations through the substrate), or clinking the feeding tongs around.

What is your people's take on this? To me it does make sense. I think this is very interesting.

[JaredJEstes]

Super interesting question. Based on the information you presented it appears they wouldn't hear us. And that goes along with my evidence, my voice has no apparent effect on my Crested Gecko. I will still talk to him, mainly because it's a human thing.... Maybe he will get used to the movement of my mouth. One thing is for sure, he knows when I touch him!

This is also good to know because I am a musician and practice songs on acoustic in my home in addition to playing a ton of tunes on the stereo. I am happy the music is not as loud to him as it is to me.

[hungba]

I don't know about all that scientific stuff, but both my iguana and my tegu can obviously hear me. If they are basking with their eyes closed and I say something like "hello", they open their eyes, look at me, then close them again. I say something more, again opens eyes, looks at me, then back to enjoying the "sun". Unlike humans, they don't seem to get bored of this, and I can repeat this standing there 10 times and they keep responding the same.

That's how I found out about all that nonsense about them not seeing red light. I got one of those red night heat bulbs many years ago. Turn it on, open eyes. Switch it off, can't see him, but when I turn it on again, eyes are closed, and he opens them again till I turn it off.