Ecological Niche

[Éva's Tegus]

I saw that on a Kamp Kenan interview of Ron St. Pierre, he revealed that tegus fill not the same ecological niche as monitors, but that of a blue tongue skink. Tegus in the wild were found that had seeds in their stomachs, meaning that their role is to disperse fruit seeds in order for plants to reproduce in a diverse manner. I know that it is commonly said that monitors and tegus are a great example of convergent evolution in that they both fell into the same ecological niche. However, this statement by Ron St. Pierre challenges this in a way that would make the tegu community explode.

I, personally, feel like everything I've been told is thrown up in the air. I need thoughts.
Let's Talk! What do y'all think? What has your research told you?

 

[Josh]

I would need to spend time with tegus in the wild to speculate on this. Domesticated, or at least pet, tegus generally have an omnivore's diet but i don't think it yields any clues to what their natural behavior is like. At least nothing beyond basic nutritional values - not food web, ecosystem niche-level info. Maybe I'm wrong though?

 

[Debita]

Agree with Josh - this sounds like a job for the Game departments in different states. Most of them just want to shut the door on Tegus, so I know of no research that is really relevant for us as pet owners. Don't get me wrong - I think it's interesting!!!