Reptile Friendships

I'm sure that reptiles haven't been studied socially enough to make any statements about their social behaviour repertoir, but I think they form "friendships" like mammals and birds. This is because our son Andrew had a variety of lizards for several years and it was easy to see that they were comfortable with him and with each other, and to a lesser extent with the rest of us. If the lizards happened to be loose (he often let them out to roam around), upon entry of a strange human or reptile or dog, they would flee to Andrew and run up his body and cringe hiding on the side of his head that was away from the stranger. He often suffered multiple scratches from their sharp claws when a strange visitor would reach out to try to touch or pet the reptile. They didn't flee to a dark corner or to their terrarium; they chose Andrew. Well, it doesn't prove anything, except that reptiles are a lot more perceptive of individuals than we give them credit for, and can differentiate between known "friends" and strangers who are obviously potential foes.