Did you know that geckos and many other lizards have the ability to sever their own heads as a self-defence mechanism?

A predator – perhaps a bird or snake – grabs hold of the gecko’s head. You, the helpless bystander, think to yourself, ‘well, that’s the end of that gecko, such is life I suppose’.

Suddenly, the gecko’s head falls off in the predator’s grasp. The severed head continues to wriggle, distracting the predator while the gecko’s body scuttles to safety, perfectly unharmed. The gecko doesn’t even lose any blood in the process.

As if that wasn’t bonkers enough, the gecko then REGROWS a new head! Within a month, the gecko is back to its original form. The new head is a bit smaller, and perhaps a little lighter in colour than the original head – but the gecko doesn’t really mind. It functions just the same as the old one.

This process is referred to as autotomy (literally meaning ‘to sever oneself’), and the gecko’s ability to sever its own head and then regrow a new one is one of the most remarkable evolutionary adaptations found in the animal kingdom.

Shit, sorry. Did I say head? I meant tail. Still pretty wild though.

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Asian House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) regrowing its tail, Berry Springs, Australia