It鈥檚 no tall tale. An Argentinian lizard has set a record when it comes to regeneration: it has regrown six tails following an injury.
Many lizards can regenerate their tails after being injured or shedding them as a defence strategy to escape predators. In response to a threat, tails can be voluntarily detached at a specific fracture plane in vertebrae. Bleeding is quickly shut off, the tail stubs heal rapidly and regeneration begins.
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In some cases, the tail breaks but doesn鈥檛 detach completely, leading to the regenerated tail having two or even three tips.
But 鈥渢his is the first case of 鈥榟exafurcation鈥� ever reported鈥�, says ,聽who has reported the discovery along with Suelem Muniz Le茫o. Both are at the聽Institute of Animal Diversity and Ecology (CONICET-UNC) in C贸rdoba, Argentina.
鈥淚t is not difficult to find scientific reports on lizards with , but there is no information available on cases like this,鈥� Pelegrin聽says.
The young black and white tegu, Salvator merianae, was brought to Pelegrin by environmental police officers because of its injuries. 鈥淚 was very surprised when I saw it,鈥� Pelegrin says. 鈥淭his was the first time I saw a lizard with more than three tails.鈥�
The tegu had a severe injury along the tail. The wound, probably from a sharp object, wasn鈥檛 deep enough for the tail to detach completely, but it seems to have been deep enough to stimulate several points in the animal鈥檚 vertebrae where regeneration occurs.
While the benefits of living through a potentially deadly attack are obvious, the costs of regrowing multiple tails are uncertain. Such tails can probably hamper a lizard鈥檚 movement, social signalling and reproduction, says Pelegrin.
Journal reference:
Read more: 鈥�The matrix: The secret to superhealing regeneration鈥�
Image credit: Nicol谩s Pelegrin
