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The ability of the desert iguana, Dipsosaurus dorsalis, to discriminate conspecific chemical deposits by lingual sampling was examined during their breeding season. We individually tested 12 males and 12 females in a series of cages in which we presented the following stimuli in a randomized order: male and female conspecific odor, male and female heterospecific odor, cologne odor, and distilled water. The number of tongue extrusions and the latency to the first extrusion were recorded and used as a measure of the lizard’s responsiveness to each of the chemical stimuli.

Because males and females did not differ in their responses to the six chemical stimuli, their data were combined for analyses. Conspecific odors elicited more tongue extrusions than did other stimuli, and no differences were found in tongue extrusion frequency to male versus female conspecific odor. These results suggest that the desert iguana is capable of discriminating conspecifics from heterospecifics based on chemical cues alone. No difference in latency to first extrusion was observed with any of the chemical stimuli presented.