The Curious Case of the Two Tailed Lizard

This two tailed lizard was found in my car port. It’s a Metallic Skink.- Niveoscincus metallicus. It's a fairly common lizard throughout Tasmania and parts of Victoria.

Tail shedding is a common defense mechanism of many lizards which increases their chance of escape from predators. The lizard leaves it's wriggling tail behind for the predator giving itself a chance to escape. This is known as autotomy which literally means "self severing". It seems in this case that either the tail has not shed properly or else it has suffered some sort of injury. Either way the regeneration process has been triggered but the original tail injury has healed. The end result is the curious two tailed lizard shown below. It’s not all that unusual as I have seen others over the years but it’s always interesting none the less.

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