A common myth surfaced on the internet indicates that, similar to various cold-blooded animals, lizards don’t feel pain since they lack a visible response like a facial expression. The above word might or might not hold accuracy-read on to find out!
Lizards do experience some form of pain, although it’s not entirely known if that pain is the same as what humans feel. However, many scientific studies have demonstrated that reptiles accommodate all anatomy and neurotransmitters to experience pain.
To avoid predation in the wild, it is likely that lizards have merely chosen to hide their pain.
Reptiles generally avoid painful stimuli, and pain-killing drugs reduce that response—both of these indicate that they feel pain. On the contrary, some people believe that reptiles cannot perceive pain. Read on to get a clear picture!
Do Reptiles Have Pain Receptors?
The most crucial factor to consider is whether lizards incorporate pain receptors. The truth is that reptiles have the physiologic and anatomic structures needed to perceive and detect pain.
In addition, they are completely capable of demonstrating painful behaviors. For example, most of the available literature dictates that the best to provide analgesia in reptiles are pure μ-opioid receptor agonists.
“Reptiles, amphibians, and fish have the neuroanatomy necessary to perceive Pain”-Book Pain Management in Veterinary Practice.
The painful reptile may typically exhibit prominent signs of illness, including lameness, aerophagia, a hunched posture, and specific behavioral changes such as apathy in a usually aggressive individual and aggression in a passive animal.
A stressed lizard may display appropriate responses as stress responses such as anorexia, hyperactivity, hypoactivity, inflation of the body, pigment change, panting, hissing, and several other abnormal reactions.
Because the structures involved with processing and nociception are homologous, reptiles are highly likely to have the same pain experience as mammals. On the contrary, a substantial difference exists in the expression of pain between mammals and reptiles.
Pain Perception In Lizards
Not much is known regarding pain perception in reptiles. For example, why is the incidence of thermal burns so high? Most reptile veterinarians have witnessed many third and fourth-degree burns from poorly placed basking lights and malfunctioning hot rocks.
One theory states that reptiles are so primitive that they don’t know the appropriate response when a burn is received. This dictates that the reptile could perceive warmth directly as attracted to the hot rock. Then, why did it fail to perceive that the stone was turning too hot?
Withdrawal Reflex
This appears like an alien thought because we have a well-developed withdrawal reflex. One such theory states that the nerve-ending receptors that sense heat differ from those that feel pain.
To conclude, pain receptors are perhaps poorly developed in lizards and such reptiles. As a result, one would lack the pain/burn withdrawal reflex.
