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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.
Anole tails often have the ability to break off at special segments, which is known as autotomy. The tail continues to wriggle for a period after detaching, attracting the attention of the predator and commonly allowing the anole to escape. [62] The tail is regenerated, but it takes more than two months to complete this process.
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 high observed frequency of tail loss, coupled with rapid and complete regeneration, suggests that caudal autotomy is an important survival tactic in this species. Although caudal autotomy may allow the Cape dwarf gecko to escape its predator, there have been documented downsides to this survival mechanism.
Eurydactylodes geckos have a long and slender tail [3] – being approximately the same length as their body [4] and possessing a snout-vent length of 100% [7] - and are round in cross section. [3] The tail is muscular [ 7 ] and prehensile, [ 3 ] aided by a subcaudal scansorial pad and adhesive subcaudal tissue with soft, long hairs. [ 2 ]
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 ...
To fully explain why beavers slap their tails we need to look at their social structures. They live in colonies of around 8 to 12 individuals and form strong family bonds.