A Venomous Tale: How Lizards Can Shed Their Tail When Predators Attack

A Venomous Tale: How Lizards Can Shed Their Tail When Predators Attack

I thought it was common knowledge that a lizard loses his tail easily.  But, I suppose if you don't live where lizards live, you don't know this.

I remember well trying to catch lizards as a child, only to have their tails come right off in your hands.  Then a friend read about Raymundo the lizard, and added her story as well:

I read your blog about Raymundo the lizard without a tail. We had brown lizards in Washington State that my kitties would catch and bring in the house. The lizard's tail would fall off and wiggle back and forth on the floor for about 60 seconds. It would wiggle so wildly that the kitty would drop the lizard in its mouth and dart after the wiggling tail on the floor. The lizard would escape under a piece of furniture.  Of course I was the one fishing the lizard from under the couch and returning it to the outside garden. After a few weeks his tail would start to regrow. I saw quite a few lizards in my garden with half grown tails so I knew my kitties had been out adventuring!

Hope this (and the linked official scientific article above) helps explain about Raymundo's little stub, and my hypothesis that it was proof somebody had recently tried to eat him...