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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.
Limbs, lips and underside of the gecko are paler than the rest of the body and a dark streak is present between the snout and eye, sometimes continuing beyond the eye. [ 4 ] The variable fat-tailed gecko has a stout body, short limbs and a broad, flat tail of similar size to the head.
The African fat-tailed gecko is equipped with the ability to lose its tail when threatened or attacked. If the tail is lost, the new tail will have a more rounded shape, similar to the head. It may not match the body coloration and pattern of the gecko. The tail is also where they store their fat, an important energy reserve.
The tail length can be equal to the length of the body from snout to the anus (SVL or Snout-Vent Length). [3] In 2004, the species was synonymized with Lygodactylus picturatus. [4] The yellow-headed dwarf gecko has a defense mechanism called tail autotomy, where they drop their tails to flee to safety when they are attacked by a predator.
A head close-up of a marbled gecko (Christinus marmoratus). Note the pads on its feet. Adults reach an average (snout-vent) length of 50mm, and weigh about 2.5g. [8] C. marmoratus have fat reserves in their tails, [9] which can be disconnected from their body when threatened, to aid in escape. Tails take about eight months to regenerate.
The lesser thorn-tailed gecko from Western Australia can shoot goo out of its tail. - Anders Zimmy/Natural History Museum
The tail can be dropped (via caudal autotomy) to distract predators. The crested gecko does not regenerate its tail once lost. Most adults in the wild lack tails. [4] The toes and the tip of the semi-prehensile tail are covered in small hairs called setae. Each seta is divided into hundreds of smaller (approximately 200 nanometres in diameter ...
The gecko has a “slender” and “relatively robust” body. It’s considered “large,” reaching about 3.1 inches in size. A photo shows the forest dwarf gecko.