After staffers accidentally burned their lunch, they noticed that the facility’s sleepy lizards started frantically tasting the circulating air with their tongues. What made the incident even more striking was that most of Audubon Zoo’s sleepy lizards were bred in captivity, implying the reaction was an innate response instead of learned behavior. In the case of sleepy lizards, Jolly and colleagues decided to test this direct correlation in a controlled environment. It soon became clear that the sleepy lizards would flee if they smelled a fire, but did nothing if they simply heard the flames. But understanding that species like sleepy lizards may have at least some advantages helps inform ongoing conservation efforts.