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Reptiles/Side blotched lizards

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Expert: Jessica Birchett - 6/13/2006


Question
Dear Ms. Birchett,
I'm writing an article about side blotched lizards and how they grow their tails back. One problem, I can't find any info on just how they do that. Thank you for your time,
Michelle:)

Answer
The self-induced loss of a tail is called "autotomy" and the regrowth process is referred to as "regeneration" -- this bit of information should help you in your search.  

Here are a few links to web sites that discuss the process in varying degrees of detail.  The first link will probably be the most helpful.  None of them discuss the particular animal you wish to write about, but as the process is the same the information doesn't change from one vertebrate to the next.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8...

http://www.anapsid.org/autotomy.html

http://www.science.edu.sg/ssc/detailed.jsp?artid=5451&type=6&root=4&parent=4&cat...

http://www.esajournals.org/esaonline/?request=get-abstract&issn=0012-9658&volume...

I hope that helps!  Good luck with your article.  :)

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Jessica Birchett

Expertise

I can answer most questions of husbandry and a fairly wide variety of species-specific questions. If you`re trying to decide on a reptile, have recently gotten one and found yourself in over your head, or are a long time collector and just want to brag about your most recent breeding successes, I can probably help you out or at least point you in the right direction.

Experience

I've had around 50 reptile-years of experiance with a wide variety of snakes and lizards. I specialize in animal nutrition. I have spent more time with boids (boas and pythons) than coloubrids (kings, milks, and corns) and the majority of my lizard experiance is with tropicals. I have not worked with hot snakes so I would be unqualified to answer questions regarding them.

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