![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/lizard149725as.jpg\")
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When I was a small child, I chased a lizard across a scree slope. I caught it by the tail, which promptly disconnected and was left wiggling in my hand. The lizard made its escape; it had autotomized.<\/p>\n
Autotomy (Gr:\u00a0auto-<\/i> “self-” and tome<\/i> “severing”) or self amputation is the behaviour whereby an animal sheds an appendage, usually as a\u00a0defence\u00a0against\u00a0a predator’s grasp. The lizard has a zone of weakness in its tail allowing it to break cleanly. A new tail is then grown.<\/p>\n
When spotted yesterday, the\u00a0Western Alligator Lizard had already shed its tail in response to who knows what.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Initial views of the head of the lizard revealed\u00a0nothing unusual.<\/p>\n
A full view shows the lizard to be\u00a0truncated. The coppery coloured back reveals that the\u00a0lizard is\u00a0young.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/lizard149725bs2.jpg\")
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As the lizard walked, three sinews (tendons?) extending from the break whipped about as if still controlling a\u00a0tail.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/lizard149725cs2.jpg\")
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When I was a small child, I chased a lizard across a scree slope. I caught it by the tail, which promptly disconnected and was left wiggling in my hand. The lizard made its escape; it had autotomized. Autotomy … Continue reading