why does an accidently broken tail of a lizard wriggle?

Question

i mean why does the broken end of a house lizard wriggle when detached accidently...it wriggles as if it had life of its own....in that case if i chop of my hand will my hand wriggle too????? feel free to *

Answer 1

Your "why" question has different answers from different perspectives.
Adaptively speaking, the wriggling tail that can be voluntarily separated from the body (it's not accidental, it's a special ability called 'caudal autotomy') is a distraction for predators when the lizard is attacked. Sometimes the predator will go for the tail and the intended victim will survive (the tail grows back later, but with a different internal structure and more limited autotomic capacity).

Physiologically speaking, this is possible because the muscle bundles in the tail of a lizard are formed by so-called "white" muscle. This is anaerobic muscle, that is, it can work in absence of oxygen (unlike our own more familiar red muscles), and produce quick movements for short periods. The tail muscles simply go on contracting until they run out of energy and their cells finally die.

If you severe your hand, it will probably contract only once or twitch as the last electric discharges from cell membranes stimulate the muscles, but no, it won't wriggle for long periods because we don't have the same type of muscles.
Besides, caudal autotomy is a natural process, there's little bleeding because the tail vertebrae, muscles and blood vessels of the lizard are prepared for that... we humans don't have any autotomic parts! ;-)

Answer 2

John S is correct. By wriggling it attracts the predators attention and the predator gets a smaller but free meal with little work. But the lizard escapes to live another day. If you notice the tails of most lizards are marked differently from the rest of the lizard. They are slightly easier to see. Many actually have undersides that are very conspicous like black and white stripes (that get exposed when it wiggles. Thus they actually attract the predators attention away from the fleeing lizard.

Answer 3

Well, I don't know about the whereabouts of most of the answerers of this one, but here in Australia, our skinks and lizards, or at least the smaller ones, have this survival technique, and I have witnessed it right in front of my eyes. A kookaburra pounced down on a small lizard I had disturbed while gardening. The lizard was quicker than the bird, and moved very fast no more than twice its length away from the scene and froze, hidden in the grass. The tail he ejected wriggled and squirmed, but the bird ignored it while he was searching for the lizard. Finally, bird looked at me in disgust, picked up the still wriggling tail, swallowed it, and took off.

The lizard grows another tail and survives by sacrificing its tail.

Answer 4

It's nerve reactions. Chickens run around with their head cut off, snakes thrash around and can even still bite after their head is cut off, a turtle destined for the soup pot (from what I understand) should be chilled for 24 hours before attempting to butcher it, and alligators are rarely if ever skinned without at least a 12 hour cooldown period, it's embarrassing enough being bitten by a live alligator, dead ones will bite too.

As for your hand wriggling if you cut if off, there's only one way to find out *gets out the meat cleaver*

Answer 5

The nerves in the tail stay alive for a little bit after it falls off.

Answer 6

electrical nerve impulses caused by adrenaline ect. Your hand will also move a little but it is heavier so it will move less. Ya ever cut the head off a chicken?

Answer 7

lol it still has somee nerves that are still capable of working until it FINALLY finds out its DEAD..ofcourse u had to know that..and ummm i dont know about a hand..but I think that i will still move if u chop it off REALLY fast..
like if u wiggle your fingers really fast and then chop it off while your doing that..i think your fingers will still be moving a little bit..=]

Answer 8

"Accidently"?
Stop torturing the lizards. I've told you this over and over. Now go to your room and don't come out till you promise to be nice to the reptiles.

Answer 9

It does..but I don't know.