Autotomy

Autotomy (from the Greek auto- "self-" and tome "severing") or self amputation is the behaviour whereby an animal sheds or discards one or more of its own appendages, usually as a self-defense mechanism to elude a predator's grasp or to distract the predator and thereby allow escape. The lost body part may be regenerated later.

Vertebrates

Reptiles and amphibians

Some geckos,skinks,lizards,salamanders and tuatara that are captured by the tail will shed part of the tail structure and thus be able to flee. The detached tail will continue to wriggle, creating a deceptive sense of continued struggle and distracting the predator's attention from the fleeing prey animal. The animal can partially regenerate its tail, typically over a period of weeks. The new section will contain cartilage rather than regenerating vertebrae of bone, and the skin of the regenerated organ generally differs distinctly in colour and texture from its original appearance. The technical term for this ability to drop the tail is caudal autotomy. In most lizards that sacrifice the tail in this manner, breakage occurs only when the tail is grasped with sufficient force, but some animals, such as some species of geckos, can perform true autotomy, throwing off the tail when sufficiently stressed, such as when attacked by ants. Some such lizards, in which the tail is a major storage organ for accumulating reserves, will return to a dropped tail after the threat has passed, and will eat it to recover part of the sacrificed supplies. Conversely, some species have been observed to attack rivals and grab their tails, which they eat after their opponents flee.