Some lizards boast the amazing skill of detaching and regrowing their tails to escape predators. John Baker explores whether they can do this multiple times <\/p>
Some lizards<\/a> posses the amazing ability to regenerate appendages, helping them escape from predators.<\/strong><\/p> When the gecko or amphibious salamander, for example, lose a tail, special stem cells profilerate and migrate to the tail area. This means that when it regrows it, the spinal cord and nerves grow back too.<\/p> How many times a lizard can regrow its tail depends. The series of bones that makes up a lizard\u2019s spine extends along the length of its tail. When the tail is shed, it breaks along a fracture plane within one of the bones. When a new tail grows, the bones do not regenerate, but are replaced with cartilage. So the re-grown tail cannot break and regrow again.<\/p> A lizard could potentially shed its tail several times, but only the original tail material is capable of fracture and regeneration.<\/p> Main image: Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Some lizards boast the amazing skill of detaching and regrowing their tails to escape predators. John Baker explores whether they can do this multiple times <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":44186,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/how-many-times-could-a-lizard-regrow-its-tail.jpg",2000,1500,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/how-many-times-could-a-lizard-regrow-its-tail-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/how-many-times-could-a-lizard-regrow-its-tail-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/how-many-times-could-a-lizard-regrow-its-tail-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/how-many-times-could-a-lizard-regrow-its-tail-1024x768.jpg",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/how-many-times-could-a-lizard-regrow-its-tail-1536x1152.jpg",1536,1152,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/how-many-times-could-a-lizard-regrow-its-tail.jpg",2000,1500,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Some lizards boast the amazing skill of detaching and regrowing their tails to escape predators. John Baker explores whether they can do this multiple times","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/44185"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
How many times could a lizard regrow its tail?<\/h2>
Discover more lizard facts<\/h3>
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