A Vivid Case of Caudal Autonomy

[Fatal_S]

I do believe that is what he means. It's a defense mechanism. The wiggling tail left behind is usually enough to distract the predator and save the skinker. I can't imagine seeing that, I'd have a heart attack.

Haha, you say that like I don't know anything about BTS autotomy! BTS can't "drop" their tails on command like many other lizards, but that's what it sounded like Andrew was saying. BTS tails can "pull" off or "break" off under great pressure or a bite and slightly cap off, but they don't grow back. You could not get a BTS tail to branch off three times, or even two times because the tail doesn't grow back at all, it just points off...and if you could do it, it would take extreme effort! Anyone who tried to do anything like that should be jailed.

Lizards who can drop their tails to diverge a predator -- their tails can regrow many times, and fully.

There was a video on youtube or google-video several years ago featuring a person demonstrating how to make-your-own many tailed lizards. It wasn't a bluey, so I'm not sure if this holds true for BTS, but the man was able to make the cut so that the second tail grew in at an angle and it began 1/4 way from the base of the original tail. The lizard was young enough so that the tail grew back nearly completely. It was a disturbing video and it basically ended up with the lizard looking something like this:

Edit: This picture is not actually of the lizard in the video. I can't find anything from that video, but I wanted a picture to show how it looked. This is just a picture I found on google.

[Leigh]

Fatal, thats quite disturbing and upsetting, the lizards sat with a look of "What you lookin at,I didnt do it, it was him"

or

"BACK OFF with that scalpel, two's too many, thank you"

[Richard.C]

i dont see why u would want a 2 tailed lizard personally,i have seen lots of wild 2 or 3 or sometimes more tail tips,not really common but it happens to wild ones as well,never seen it in a bluey though,just little garden skinks,also northerns get a little bit of tail regeneration growth happening,very slow though and as andrew said very average looking compared to normal tailed ones,this is quite a fascinating topic andrew,just another point to prove you always learning with blueys,no matter how experienced you are and that people should report odd behaviours ect and even mistakes they make ect for others to learn from and what better place to do that then on this very forum,i understand your busyness to andrew,thanks for sharing and looking forward to hearing more and seeing a pic when u get the time and a chance

[Funda]

Thats so cruel

f.C

[Hijinks]

That's horrifying and revolting. There's a short blurb on anapsid about the two-tails phenomenon:

Note that in the case of some partial tail breaks, the tail "thinks" that part of the tail has broken off and so starts growing a new tail. But, since the original tail still exists and remains healthy, the lizard ends up with two tails - the original and the new one. While I don't have the reference handy, I do recall hearing or reading about one case where a lizard had three tails, the original and two new ones as a result of two different accidents involving the tail.

[Tattoo]

Nasty! Too bad some people have nothing better to do than mangle their pets.

[Lucifer_Spades]

C'mon Andrew where are those pictures? I am getting antsy, I've never seen this happen before on ANY lizard much less a bluey.

[Chase]

I do believe they commonly refer to it as a bifurcated tail.

[NomadOfTheHills]

cough*wikipedia*cough