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A white-headed dwarf gecko with tail lost due to autotomy. Autotomy (from the Greek auto-, "self-" and tome, "severing", αὐτοτομία) or 'self-amputation', is the behaviour whereby an animal sheds or discards an appendage, [1] usually as a self-defense mechanism to elude a predator's grasp or to distract the predator and thereby allow escape.
As mentioned earlier, lizards that lose their tails are at a greater risk of predation than lizards with their tails intact. Since social status is an important survival mechanism amongst side-blotched lizards, researchers have suggested that the loss of a tail, which contributes to a decrease in social status, forces tailless side-blotched ...
It is less likely to drop off its tail than some other species that display caudal autotomy. However, these occasional displays of caudal autotomy are responsible for the name "glass lizard" (or "glass snake"). The released tail may break into pieces, leading to the myth that the lizard can shatter like glass and reassemble itself later.
Lizard is the common name used for all squamate reptiles other than snakes ... A skink tail continuing to move after autotomy. Many lizards, ...
Lizard tail autotomy can distract predators, continuing to writhe while the lizard makes its escape. Some animals are capable of autotomy (self-amputation), shedding one of their own appendages in a last-ditch attempt to elude a predator's grasp or to distract the predator and thereby allow escape.
Ground skinks exhibit tail autotomy when seized which distracts the predator and allows the ground skink to escape. The tail will later regrow. [ 16 ] However, once the tail is dropped there is a marked drop in their escape speed (38 to 28 cm/s) and fleeing distance (152 cm with tail, 9 cm without tail). [ 17 ]
The family Shinisauridae contains one living species, the Chinese crocodile lizard (Shinisaurus crocodilurus). This species is semiaquatic, found in forests along streams. These lizards can hold their breath underwater for up to thirty minutes at a time. Found in southern China, this species is viviparous, with litters ranging from 2-7 individuals.
Squamates and tuatara both show caudal autotomy (loss of the tail-tip when threatened), and have transverse cloacal slits. [24] Tuatara were originally classified as lizards in 1831 when the British Museum received a skull. John Edward Gray used the name Sphenodon to describe the skull; this remains the current scientific name for the genus.