Detecting a three-tailed lizard

Scientists first discovered a three-tailed lizard in Kosovo.

Detecting the blue neck lizard has 3 tails

This lizard of the Algyroides nigropunctatus was discovered in June, in Kosovo's Metohija area. Its three tails measured in length are 30, 15, and 10 mm in length.

Three-tailed lizards are rare all over the world, says Daniel Jablonski, a biologist at Comenius University, Slovakia, one of those who found it. Two-tailed lizards, though rare, are more common.

Three lizard tails.(Photo: Daniel Jablonski).

"I've studied reptiles for a long time, up to hundreds or thousands of specimens, but this is the first time I've seen a 3-tailed lizard , " he shared via email with National Geographics.

The lizard has the ability to break the old tail to escape the enemy. The new tail will then grow with cartilage. Several other vertebrate species such as salamanders or tuataras, a reptile living in New Zealand also have this ability.

Previous studies have shown that lizard tails occur when the old tail does not break completely, still sticking to the body. However, in some cases, as in the Kosovo lizard, the extra tails are formed after the old tail is completely removed from the body. From the outside, three big tails can be seen, like three branches growing from the same root.

Scientists believe that a strong force of attack by a bird of prey or stray dogs may have broken the spine at the back of the lizard, and each tail grew from a separate vertebra. This study was published in August in the journal Ecologica Montenegrina.

The lizard has been released to the natural habitat in Kosovo.(Photo: Daniel Jablonski).

Observations show that the new tail area has a different color and shape than the body that increases the conviction for this conclusion.

"What's interesting here is that the old tail is actually lost and not just wounded and still sticking to the body like the previous conclusions ," said biologist Bill Bateman, Curtin University, Australia.

The lizard when tested shows good health. 3 tails also do not affect the balance or cause other defects for it. It has been released to the natural habitat.