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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.
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. The lost body part may be regenerated later.
The pieces of tail will continue to move once broken off. Two common beliefs are that the pieces of broken tail can grow into new lizards or rejoin into a new tail. [12] In a 1989 study, 79% of the specimens in the population area had broken tails. [10] It is hard to find a slender glass lizard that has its entire tail.
Slender glass lizard (Ophisaurus attenuatus)Ophisaurus (from the Greek 'snake-lizard') is a genus of superficially snake-like legless lizards in the subfamily Anguinae.Known as joint snakes, glass snakes, or glass lizards, they are so-named because their tails are easily broken; like many lizards, they have the ability to deter predation by dropping off part of the tail, which can break into ...
An example is thermo-regulation in Sauropsida, which is the clade containing the lizards, turtles, crocodiles, and birds. Lizards, turtles, and crocodiles are ectothermic (coldblooded), while birds are endothermic (warmblooded). Being coldblooded is symplesiomorphic for lizards, turtles, and crocodiles, but they do not form a clade, as ...
Like most lizards, these anoles possess autotomic tails. If the lizard is captured or pursued, the end portion of the tail may break off and continue to move for several minutes, hopefully distracting its attacker and giving the lizard enough time to escape. Given time, the dislocated portion of the tail may be replaced by a stiff ...
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.
Saururus cernuus is a herbaceous perennial that gets its most frequent common name, lizard's tail, from its white flowers that bloom in the summer months. [2] The inflorescence is usually 6 to 8 in long. [3] After floral maturity the white flowers turn brown, giving the plant its namesake, lizard's tail. [3]