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A dragonfly in its radical final moult, metamorphosing from an aquatic nymph to a winged adult.. In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is a process by which an animal casts off parts of its body to serve some beneficial purpose, either at specific times of the year, or at specific points in ...
In many cases the cast skin peels backward over the body from head to tail, in one piece like an old sock. A new, larger, and brighter layer of skin has formed underneath. [5] [7] An older snake may shed its skin only once or twice a year, but a younger snake that is still growing may shed up to four times a year. [7]
A shed skin is much longer than the snake that shed it, as the skin covers the top and bottom of each scale. If the skin is shed intact, each scale is unwrapped on the top and bottom side of the scale which almost doubles the length of the shed skin. While a snake is in the process of shedding the skin over its eye, the eye may become milky.
In many cases the cast skin peels backward over the body from head to tail, in one piece like an old sock. A new, larger, and brighter layer of skin has formed underneath. [9] [18] An older snake may shed its skin only once or twice a year, but a younger, still-growing snake, may shed up to four times a year. [18]
The skin is tough and leathery, and is shed (sloughed) as the animal grows. Unlike snakes which shed the skin in a single piece, lizards slough their skin in several pieces. The scales may be modified into spines for display or protection, and some species have bone osteoderms underneath the scales.
Just before shedding, the skin becomes grey and the snake's eyes turn silvery. The inner surface of the old skin liquefies, causing it to separate from the new skin beneath it. After a few days, the eyes clear and the snake reaches out of its old skin, which splits. The snake rubs its body against rough surfaces to aid in the shedding of its ...
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.
The species normally shed their skin as a whole, including the eye covering. This takes up to several hours, during which the lizard rubs against objects to help the process. The species exhibits sexual dimorphism , with males being stockier than females and having a larger head although females generally grow larger than males.