A Lizard "Tail"

While we were up at the cabin

for a mini family vacay,

Jungle Girl and I had a 

close encounter with nature.

While we were in the bathroom,

we discovered a little lizard,

so we decided to catch it and release him outside.

Well,

he was a fast little bugger,

so in the heat of the hunt...

...he lost his tail.

I know this is to help quick lizards
to get away from their predators,
but what I didn't realize
is that the tail keeps MOVING after it falls off.

This video I took with my camera
shows the bodiless tail in action:

Also,

it will coil up and move more
if you touch it,
which I discovered as I was trying
to throw the tail away...

Creepy, huh?

Why does it do this?

Apparently,
the movement startles the predators,
(I know it startled Jungle Girl and I!)
giving the little lizard a few more moments to escape.

We were able to finally capture the poor creature
and release it into the woods.

I sure hope it survived our rescue efforts!

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Linking up with
Science Sunday...