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Leeway Corucia Research Center (LCRC)

Thanks in advance for any assistance. We have a female Mali that lost the last 20% of her tail.

Sincerely,
Brian
LCRC

Brian,

I personally am not aware of any species in this genus that has this defensive ability.

I know that uromastyx can often lose a portion of their tail due to injury from hitting hard objects when threatened but this is usually due to severe injury where the tail becomes necrotic and eventually falls off. I do not believe that anatomically a uromastyx’s tail supports autonomy.

I do have one uromastyx that suffered a severe tail trauma (unknown origin) and ended up losing the last 20% or so of its tail. The break did not appear to be clean and the surrounding muscle was jagged. The entire process from injury to loss of the tail took almost four months. Pictures of the injured caudal region can be emailed if you feel that it would be beneficial in your research. Feel free to contact me with an appropriate email address if you would like me to forward the pictures.

If you or anyone else knows of data that supports caudal autonomy in uromastyx, please post the scientific data as I would be interested in taking a look at it.

Leeway Corucia Research Center (LCRC)

Hello Debb,

Thank you for your kind and quick response. Yes, if it is not too much trouble, I would appreciate any pictures you can send. I haven't found much in the area on Uromastyx and the female we have also exhibited signs of necrosis at the caudal break. There were only 2 pinhead size areas of living tissue at the break. There was no evidence of any injury that would have led to this. Having a specialized, defensive tail we were curious what speed and method of recovery is standard for Mali Uromastyx.
Sincerely,
Brian
LCRC