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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

Alligators can regrow their tails, surprising scientists:

Small reptiles such as geckos and skinks are well known for this remarkable ability to sacrifice and then rapidly regrow their tails. Now, to scientists' surprise, it turns out that much larger alligators can regrow theirs too. But only while they're young.

Juvenile American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) can regrow up to 18 percent of their total body length back. This is about 23 cm or 9 inches of length.

What's really cool is this regrowth appears to occur via a mechanism we've not seen before.

By imaging and dissecting the tail regrowth, researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) found alligators do this quite differently from the other animals we know that can regenerate their appendages.

[...] As far as regrowing body parts goes, amphibious axolotls are the champions of regeneration amongst land animals with internal skeletons.

If injured, they can reform a segmented skeleton, complete with muscles that differ along their height - distinguishing top from bottom.

[...] Alligators, it seems, don't even bother re-growing muscles at all.

"Clearly there is a high cost to producing new muscle," said ASU animal physiologist Jeanne Wilson-Rawls.

Journal References:
1.) James I. Barr, Catherine A. Boisvert, Ruchira Somaweera, et al. Re-regeneration to reduce negative effects associated with tail loss in lizards [open], Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-55231-6)
2.) Cindy Xu, Joanna Palade, Rebecca E. Fisher, et al. Anatomical and histological analyses reveal that tail repair is coupled with regrowth in wild-caught, juvenile American alligators ( Alligator mississippiensis ) [open], Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-77052-8)

Original Submission

1. "upstart" - https://soylentnews.org/~upstart/
2. "Alligators can regrow their tails, surprising scientists" - https://www.livescience.com/alligators-can-regrow-their-tails.html
3. "geckos" - https://www.sciencealert.com/gecko-tails-could-help-fix-human-spine-injuries
4. "skinks" - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55231-6
5. "American alligators" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_alligator
6. "axolotls" - https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-axolotl-genes-involved-in-their-amazing-limb-regeneration
7. "said ASU animal physiologist" - https://phys.org/news/2020-11-lizardsalligators-regrow-tails.html
8. "10.1038/s41598-019-55231-6" - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55231-6
9. "10.1038/s41598-020-77052-8" - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77052-8
10. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=45945

printed from SoylentNews, Alligators Can Regrow Tails, Surprising Scientists on 2024-04-24 10:49:01