two tailed alligator lizard
Location: El Dorado county, california
October 14, 2011 7:34 pm
got lots of these and fence lizards running round, but this is the first i have seen with 2 tails.
sorry i couldn’t get more pics of it, my sister took the photos
Signature: adric
Dear Adric,
Thank you so much for sending us this photo of the anomaly that you discovered. Often when a Lizard loses its tail because of an accident or an encounter with a predator, the tail will regenerate, though with a slightly different appearance and morphology. The tail detaches when enough pressure is applied, and this will allow a Lizard to escape if it is grasped by the tail. Your individual shows the stump where the original tail was lost as well as the unusual regeneration. We cannot really speculate on the nature of the original injury and why that resulted in this anomaly.