The life of a lizard is both dangerous and difficult. Many animals hunt them and eat them with pleasure, so the long-suffering reptiles have to come up with all sorts of methods of defense. A special color, quick reaction and incredible speed of movement are some of the ways to sneak away and not become someone's lunch. But, if this does not help, then the lizards discard their tail.
However, throwing off the tail is not so easy for a lizard. Therefore, before doing this, she assesses the degree of threat to her life.
Each lizard drops its tail differently. This process is influenced by their size, speed, age and other factors. In particular, the larger or older the animal, and therefore slower, the more tail they lose. However, not every lizard has these abilities, as is commonly believed. This process is not regulated by the lizard's reflexes or instincts. Control comes from the brain, therefore, the lizard first assesses the situation.
The lizard's tail is a spine of several zones connected to each other by cartilage, ligaments and muscles. Each zone has the ability to burst. When threatened, the muscles and ligaments in the immediate area are torn and the tail is separated. Sometimes the tail is torn off more roughly - by breaking the vertebrae, however, in this case it is very difficult for the lizard to restore the loss.
When a muscle ruptures, it contracts on its own. The severed tail also continues to contract and move, thereby diverting attention to itself while the lizard itself runs away from danger.
When the tail grows back, it may have a slightly different color, and also the junction may hurt the eye; it is somewhat narrowed. Nature made sure that the lizard's tail was brighter than the main part of the body. Its color can be red, yellow, lilac, striped, speckled, etc.
The vertebrae at the site of separation are lost forever and cannot be restored, unlike the tail itself; cartilage forms in their place. Therefore, each time the separation occurs higher and higher, i.e. closer to the head, so if such a lizard gets into dangerous situations too often, the matter can end in death. The tail of small lizards grows in about a month. For larger ones - up to one year.
Lizards, having lost their tail, are forced to adapt to a new life. They are no longer so nimble and fast, they lose the ability to swim and produce offspring. The energy of many lizards is located in the tail, because there they tend to accumulate fat and vitamins, so after tearing off the tail, the lizard runs the risk of dying from a lack of nutrients. Therefore, some lizards try to find their tail and eat it to regain their strength.
Many lizards grabbed by the tail have a defensive reaction, and the tail involuntarily rushes . Thanks to this ability, the lizard manages to free itself and distract the attention of the attacker.
Why does a lizard drop its tail?
By involuntary separation of its tail, the lizard frees itself from the enemy and runs away. The lizard resorts to this method of self-defense only as a last resort, when there is no other way to escape from the attacker. And those of them that also have shells, long teeth and claws for self-defense, cast off their tail only in exceptional cases.
The loss of such a necessary body part is only useful in that it saves the lizard’s life, helping it escape from a predator. This is why extremely fast species throw their tails, rather than slow ones that would be unable to escape a predator. In fact, the loss of a tail often does not bring much trouble to the lizard, as it seems at first glance. By throwing away its tail, it protects itself from the beak or claws of the enemy. Sometimes, after shedding its tail, the lizard loses its ability to reproduce or its ability to find food is limited.
The lizard's tail is necessary to maintain balance while running and walking, as well as while climbing and swimming. For tree-climbing species, the loss of a tail is a significant loss, since they use it as a fifth limb. Some species of iguanas and geckos have places on their tails that they use to cling to surfaces.
From mangrove forests, other aquatic lizards also lose their ability to swim after losing their tail. Each time after losing their tail, lizards are forced to change their lifestyle, but they do not always succeed.
The tail also plays a big role in the relationships between lizards. Individuals left without a tail find it difficult to maintain a leading role; it is more difficult for them to defend their territory and find a partner. Many lizards store energy in their tail—fat is often deposited in it. The loss of a tail can cause a lizard to go hungry if the amount of food available to it decreases. However, sometimes throwing off the tail - this is a protective device inherent in lizards - still gives them an invaluable service, the price of which is the preservation of life.
Tearing off the tail is a very complex method of self-defense, known as “autotomy”. Whether a lizard will part with its tail or not depends on the level of danger posed to its life, and on how much energy will then be spent on restoring it.
The ease with which a lizard's tail comes off depends on the tactics the animal uses to escape. Large and slow lizards cast off more of their tail compared to small and fast reptiles, but there are exceptions.
Desert lizards, for example, reject the entire tail completely. They run fast, but in the desert there are few places where these lizards can find shelter. The severed tail twitches convulsively, distracting the attention of the attacker, and at this moment the former owner of the tail flees.
Large iguanas shed their tails only when they are young. When they grow up, they lose this ability forever.
Lizards that can cast their tails use various methods of this peculiar self-defense. In most of them, the tail has areas of rupture in the transverse cartilages of the spine and adjacent ligaments and muscles. When a lizard is grabbed by the tail, the muscle rings around the tear zone contract and, as a result of tension, rupture.
The primitive form is the separation of the tail by breaking the vertebrae. This type of protection was developed in lizards whose tails lost the ability to break in cross section. In this case, it is more difficult to grow a new tail. When the tail is thrown back, the muscles contract, the thrown tail jumps to the side and twitches convulsively. This temporarily distracts the attacker.
Lizards are a favorite food of many animals. One of the most important ways of self-defense of lizards is their ability to freeze motionless or instantly disappear. Only when these methods are powerless does the lizard have to drop its tail.
In some species of these descendants of reptiles, the tail is brighter colored than the rest of the body. Thus, attention is diverted. Many lizards have tails that are green, blue, or red. A similar phenomenon is also observed in species that are active at night, or in those whose tails at dusk have bright, contrasting stripes on their tails.
Lizards more often lose their tail during pursuit, less often - at the moment when they are firmly grabbed. Throwing the tail is not a reflexive or instinctive phenomenon, it is guided by brain activity and occurs only under specific conditions.
TAIL RESTORATION
REGENERATION is the process of restoring the tail of a lizard.
A new tail grows identical to the discarded one. Since the vertebrae are not repaired, they are replaced with a cartilage rod. Therefore, if necessary, a second break is possible only higher than the previous one.
- After the danger has passed, the lizards eat the discarded tail, restoring lost energy.
- Lizards that shed their tails breed in terrariums and trust humans so much that they allow themselves to be caught by the tail.
- Some lizards store up to 60% of their fat reserves in their tail. Skinks, which can go without food for 35 days, die of starvation as early as 24 days after losing their tail. Geckos can survive without food for 90 days, but after autotomy they cannot survive more than 50 days.
- Females that have lost their tail lay fewer eggs, as most of their energy goes into rebuilding the tail.
So, before you catch a lizard by the tail, think carefully about the consequences.
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Most animals and birds eat lizards. As a result, they have to find ways to protect themselves, which is facilitated by their special coloring, careful behavior and speed of movement. If this does not help, then the lizards shed their tails. However, shedding a tail is not so easy for a lizard. Therefore, before doing this, she assesses the degree of threat to her life.
Each lizard tears off its tail differently. This process is influenced by their size, speed, age and other factors. In particular, the larger or older the animal, and therefore slower, the more tail they lose. However, not every lizard has these abilities, as is commonly believed. This process is not regulated by the lizard's reflexes or instincts. Control comes from the brain, so the lizard first assesses the situation.
The lizard's tail is a spine of several zones connected to each other by cartilage, ligaments and muscles. Each zone has the ability to burst. When a threat arises (for example, if you grab a lizard by the tail), the muscles and ligaments in the immediate area are torn, and the tail is separated. Sometimes the tail is torn off more roughly - by breaking the vertebrae, however, in this case it is very difficult for the lizard to restore the loss.
When a muscle ruptures, it contracts on its own. The severed tail also continues to contract and move, thereby diverting attention to itself while the lizard itself runs away from danger. Of course, nature took care of preserving the lizard population.
Date of publication: 06.10.2012We all know that lizards drop their tails when they are in danger. However, not many people know how this interesting phenomenon occurs and why. In this article you will find answers to these and other questions.
The tail of reptiles is one of the most important parts of the body. The tail helps control movement, can be used to attract the opposite sex, etc. However, one of the most interesting features of the tail is the ability to shed it.
The thing is that lizards have non-ossified layers in the tail vertebrae. Tail breaking occurs because the lizard sharply contracts its tail muscles. This ability is called autotomy. Those. the tail breaks in the place where there are unossified layers.
At the same time, the lizard has no noticeable blood loss, since a sharp contraction of the tail muscles tightens the blood vessels.
The main purpose of throwing the tail is to distract the enemy's attention. While the attacker is distracted by the tail, the lizard manages to run away or hide. However, different types of lizards do this in their own way. Sometimes lizards deliberately raise their tails. In such lizards, the tail is usually painted in a bright and contrasting color.
At the same time, the detached tail begins to wriggle wildly. Why is this happening? But because when thrown, the lizard sharply contracts the muscles of its tail. As a result, the muscles begin to slowly relax, causing the tail to wiggle. In addition, immediately after shedding the tail, the nerve cells in it begin to die, which cause the muscles to involuntarily contract.
As a rule, the tail grows back after a few months. However, the lizard still suffered great harm to its health.
The thing is that the special vertebrae do not grow back, which means it will not be possible to lose the tail a second time. Those. A lizard can pull off the tail-throwing trick only once in its life. It is also important that in order to grow a new tail, a lizard needs a lot of energy and effort. As a result, the lizard at the moment of growing its tail becomes very vulnerable to predators. Dropping the tail saved the lizard's life, but left it in a very dangerous position.
Lizards generally try to cast off their tail only as a last resort. In addition, lizards do not try to throw off their tail completely, but only its tip. As a result, the tip grows back, and the lizard has the opportunity to shed its tail again in case of danger.
In general, lizards value their tail very much for several reasons. Firstly, lizards store fat in their tail (like beavers). Those. The lizard needs the tail in times of famine, when there is no way to find food. Moreover, many snakes and crocodiles also store fat in their tails. Therefore, the size of the tail can determine the level of health of the animal. If the lizard drops its tail, and then "hunger times" begin, the lizard may simply die from lack of nutrients.
In addition, the tail is very necessary for most reptiles to move. Thanks to the tail, some lizards can run on their hind legs, jump or swim. Some snakes and lizards have small special scales on their tails that allow them to cling to branches.
And finally, the most important purpose of the tail is to attract the opposite sex. In many species of reptiles, certain movements of the tail indicate a signal for approaching. The tail is needed both to attract a partner and during battles and fights. In addition, for many animals, body size determines their place in the social structure. Those. a lizard without a tail appears smaller to other lizards, and therefore weaker. In general, in the animal world, the one who is larger in size is more important.
Some species of reptiles can shed not only their tails, but also their skin. The lizard begins to spin violently, causing some of its skin and scales to be shed.
Tails are very valuable for lizards. Some species of lizards, after dropping their tail, return for it. If the enemy leaves a tail, the lizard itself eats it to replenish its energy reserves.
After reading this article, you should remember that catching lizards means putting them at great risk. Even if you then release the lizard without a tail, it will most likely die due to severe exhaustion. If you really want to demonstrate your dexterity, then find yourself a more useful activity than catching lizards, snakes or newts. In addition, you can look at reptiles at the zoo.
Many people, when talking about health, begin to regret that many things need to be abandoned or significantly limited, but they are so accustomed to them. Of course, it’s nice to feel sorry for yourself, but the truth is that it’s impossible to sit on two chairs. In difficult situations, the choice is almost never pleasant, safe or profitable. Therefore, today I want to talk about the principle of the lizard’s tail about the inevitability of painful losses in order to preserve key resources in conditions of danger, stress and forced circumstances. The instinct of self-preservation makes us avoid risks, and the instincts of survival help us take risks. How to find balance?
| Lizard tail principle. |
Conflict of instincts: self-preservation is stronger than reason.
In an ambiguous stressful situation, a conflict often arises between two basic instincts: survival and self-preservation. The instinct of self-preservation is a special form of behavior aimed at protecting one’s own life and health.
The instinct of self-preservation- this is an innate form of behavior of living beings in the event of danger, actions to save themselves from this danger. The realization of this instinct is served by such feelings as pain and fear. Pain is usually felt as an abnormal condition of the body that must be eliminated in some way. Fear makes a living being seek refuge. Animals hide and run away, and people try to protect themselves from the source of stress.
But what if this is impossible to do? Unable to run and hide from a stressor that continues to cause damage? Many people resort to various mental defense mechanisms in an attempt to come to terms with their current position. They justify this by saying that “a bad peace is better than a good war”; they try to preserve what they have at any cost. But the unpleasant truth is that such a strategy will not work in a truly serious situation.The instinct of self-preservation makes us avoid risks.
Instinct makes us squeeze in and not let go of what we have under any pretext. It's like an organism that blocks fat burning under stress)). It looks reasonable, but in reality we are like monkeys caught in a banana in such a situation. This is how monkeys are caught in India and South Africa. A jar with a narrow neck is tied to a tree. A banana is placed in a jar. A monkey passing by sees a banana and, putting its paw into the jar, grabs it from the wide space of the jar.
Now the monkey tries to pull the banana out of the jar, but he fails because his narrow throat does not release the paw clutching the banana. The monkey sees the catcher approaching him, wants to run away, but cannot, because he cannot get his paw out of the jar, which is tied to the tree. Although she clearly will not enjoy meeting the catcher, and the banana and the jar are certainly the causes of her troubles, she never wants to part with the banana, which would allow her to remove her paw from the jar. She is literally tied to a banana, which has turned from a potential source of pleasure into a source of suffering. We are like such a monkey. There are a lot of “bananas” in our lives that we are accustomed to or strive for, and although they cause us suffering, we cannot part with them. Some of them are all sorts of habits, such as cigarettes, coffee, tranquilizers, alcohol, fantasies, illusions or other values. These things are not bad in themselves, but in some cases they can be detrimental to our health or happiness. And we, understanding this, nevertheless cannot get rid of them, because we are accustomed to them and consider them “part of ourselves.”
Survival instinct and risk.
The survival instinct is a life impulse that is directly related to the fear of death. Death in this case means everything that is dangerous, that makes us feel weak, the sensations that a crisis provokes and to which we respond with this impulse of libido, what evolutionists would call the feeling of survival. The survival instinct allows one to overcome the instinct of self-preservation in cases where hiding or avoiding a stressor becomes unprofitable. From a survival point of view, it is more profitable to take risks. A feature of the instinct for risky behavior is that it is manifested by a decrease in the instinct of self-preservation, because pushes an individual into dangerous behavior that can lead to injury or even death. Risk behavior is also influenced by culture and social conditions. A person has always existed in a situation of need to demonstrate risky behavior, i.e. making a decision whose consequences are uncertain and often negative or even deadly. The threat of predators, natural factors, and wars created an almost constant situation of risk. Risk-taking is a fairly stable characteristic of an individual and is associated with such personality traits as impulsiveness, independence, desire for success, and a tendency to dominate.
Throwing away what is necessary for survival.
A classic biological example comes from the mechanism of action of leptin. This hormone regulates metabolism and helped our ancestors survive in severe conditions of calorie deficiency. Unfortunately, modern calorie counting theory does not take this mechanism into account. How did prisoners in concentration camps who received 700 to 800 calories a day manage to survive? If the calorie counting theory is correct, then, according to it, they should have died when all their reserves of stored fat had been used up, that is, after a few months.
Let’s say that with a daily need of 2500 calories, a person consumes exactly this amount of calories over a long period of time. If suddenly this number of calories decreases to 2000, then the body begins to compensate for the missing amount through reserve fat, and, accordingly, weight loss occurs. On the other hand, if the calorie intake is established at the level of 2000 after a previously received 2500, then the body, under the influence of the survival instinct, will quickly adapt to exactly this level of calories. And then the weight loss will stop. But the body is very smart. The survival instinct will prompt him to be even more careful, and this caution will be aimed at creating reserves. If they continue to give him only 2000 calories, well, good! He will reduce his energy needs to 1,700 calories, for example, and store the difference of 300 calories as visceral fat. And here a paradoxical thing happens: although a person eats less (and his body, accordingly, receives fewer calories), he begins to slowly gain weight, storing fat in the liver and mesentery.
In these cases, the body goes into deficit mode to slow down energy expenditure and survive difficult times. It is known that many animals can even hibernate. The deficit regime is an adaptation to times of famine. The body in deficit mode tries in every way to slow down the consumption of calories. This includes stopping fat burning, slowing down physical activity, reducing motivation and performance, suppressing sexual and reproductive function. This is a shutdown of the thyroid gland and ovaries. Deficit mode is the activation of eating behavior to search for high-calorie foods, turning off saturation and maximizing fat gain.Under stress, leptin helps us survive by turning off what we can do without: the immune system, the reproductive system, the skeletal system, putting the body into deficiency mode. But leptin does not save on the cardiovascular system, and this is understandable: stopping its energy supply will lead to death.
Leptin and the lizard principle.
The hormone leptin teaches us simple wisdom: we need to be able to sacrifice in order to survive. Unwillingness to sacrifice what is important will not give you the opportunity to win in difficult situations. We must be willing to sacrifice our maximalism (all or nothing) for our own salvation. Let's take the example of a lizard. She doesn’t hesitate to leave her tail in the teeth of a predator or in our hands, but she saves herself. It is critically important to learn how to make choices.
Any stressful situation requires at least two options: the worst is to leave everything as it is and wait for the worst, the best is to sacrifice relatively little, preserve yourself, your health and win. \If personal boundaries are inadequate, applying the lizard's tail principle is problematic. Why? If you believe that something is an integral part of your personality, then you cannot sacrifice it. And many people have extremely inflated personal boundaries, which make them very clumsy.
This is the lizard principle: give away what is important in order to keep what is important. The lizard principle is tail (body part) in exchange for life. Preserve the vital, irreplaceable from the replaceable, not necessary for survival. To properly understand this metaphor, let me remind you that it is not so easy for a lizard to shed its tail. Therefore, before doing this, she assesses how great the threat to her life is. The process of dropping the tail is completely regulated by the brain and is not a reflex.
How does this happen?
The lizard's tail is a spine of several zones connected to each other by cartilage, ligaments and muscles. Each zone can be torn. When threatened, the muscles and ligaments in the immediate area contract, tear, and the tail is separated. The severed tail continues to contract and move, thereby diverting attention to itself. And at this time his former owner is running away from danger.
When a lizard grows a new tail, the vertebrae at the site of the tear are not restored, and cartilage forms in their place. Therefore, each time the gap gets higher and higher. The tail of small lizards grows in about a month. For larger ones, this process takes up to one year.
A lizard without a tail is no longer so nimble and fast, it may lose the ability to reproduce, runs and climbs poorly due to the lack of a “rudder”. Water lizards can no longer swim and are forced to change their lifestyle. But the main thing is that in many lizards the tail is used to accumulate fat and nutrients, which means that all their energy is concentrated in the tail. Therefore, after it comes off, the animal may die from exhaustion. Therefore, a rescued lizard often tries to find its tail and eat it in order to restore lost strength.
Conclusion.
Ask yourself how much do you want to survive? Remember the freedom-loving predators who bite off their own legs after falling into a trap. I remember an episode from one film where the leader of the mafioso offers a choice to a guilty mafioso: bite off his finger with his teeth or he will be shot. The offender failed and was killed. Could you?
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