The Tail of a Gecko

Today a small gecko, about 1.5 inches, got in our door jam so we had to get him out to shut the door. Unfortunately, his tail came out so this makes him more susceptible to predators. Usually, a gecko will drop his tail if he is captured and the predator should go after the wiggling tail instead of the gecko. So, now the poor gecko is in more danger - until his tail grows back.

But, I couldn't resist the urge to show Alexandra the tail. And, we got out her microscope and took the above photo at 60X. Isn't it neat?

The tail continued to wiggle for several minutes and we videotaped him with our digital microscope. Even after it stopped wiggling, it would start again if we touched it. Pretty neat defense system! (By the way, it was a lot more active at the beginning. This is probably 3-5 minutes after the tail fell off.)