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Why do lizards lose their tails?

Updated: 8/11/2023
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Wiki User

16y ago

Best Answer

As a means of self-preservation. A predator can attack it, it can lose its tail and then regrow it. The predator will usually not attack the rest of the body once it has the tail, which continues to move for quite some time after being detached, allowing the lizard to get away.

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11y ago
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15y ago

A tail will often wiggle after it has come off to distract the attention of the predator so the lizard can escape. Lizards sometimes eat their own tail after they have shed it to regain weight from losing the tail. Some lizards store up to 60% of their body fat in their tail. A species of Skink can survive 35 days without food but may die in 24 days after losing its tail. It may take only a month for small lizards to regrow their tail but for larger lizards it can take a year. Geckos can live without food for 90 days but if they have lost their tails they may last only 50 days. Female lizards that have lost their tails produce fewer eggs because their body's energy is used to regrow their tail.

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Wiki User

16y ago

It a defensive mechanism. If a predator attempts to eat a lizard and the lizard loses his tail the predator has a choice between a fleeing lizard or a easy tail.

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Wiki User

13y ago

it is a way of surrvial

if you cut it off

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Wiki User

15y ago

if u mean loose its tail then grow it back, no. only some reptiles and amphibians have that trait. no birds or mammals can grow back limbs/tails.

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14y ago

Mostly for balance.

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Wiki User

13y ago

to show it is happy

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Q: Why do lizards lose their tails?
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