When threatened, geckos such as Coleonyx brevis (pictured) can jettison their tails in the hope that predators will be too distracted by the writhing appendage to notice the meal that is scurrying away.
Although many have observed the gecko's great escape, the behaviour of the newly autonomous decoys they leave behind is less well known.
Timothy Higham from Clemson University in South Carolina and Anthony Russell at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, used high-speed video cameras and implanted electrodes to study the tail of the leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) immediately after shedding. In addition to rhythmic swinging movements, which were probably controlled by motor circuits in the spinal cord, the tail also performed complex acrobatics such as flips and lunges.
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Biology: Turning tail. Nature 461, 319 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/461319a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/461319a
