To Re-Grow A Tail

At this point, I think we all know about caudal autonomy in lizards.

Many species can drop all or part of their tail. They have specialized vertebrae down their entire tail, think of them like Lego pieces. At each vertebra (Lego piece), they can drop their tail at will but only once. They never regrow the vertebrae. Instead, the tail grows back as a single cartilage structure.

But how long does it take the lizard to regrow its tail?

It depends on the species and how much tail was lost, but generally, it takes more than 60 days for a lizard to regrow a functional tail. This loss could be profound for the lizard as it can impact its ability to run fast and other mobility, it has lost a major form of defense against predators, the lizard has lost its form of fat storage, and it is energetically expensive to regrow a tail.

Luckily species like the western fence lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis, are highly adaptable and despite urbanization, predation, and other causes of tail loss, their populations seem to be doing well.

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