The 'witch' in the animal world

We humans can only regrow lost fingers or legs. However, many animals are more capable of reproducing, even nearly the entire body after being injured or severed, with only a few cells. Here is the interesting case.

Self-defeating octopus . penis

To transfer sperm into the female body, the males of the octopus have developed a specialized arm with the mating arm's name (hectocotylus). In some octopus species, this arm can break off the male body during mating and cling to the female to transfer the sperm into the female body later.

In this photo taken off the island of Sulawesi (Indonesia), an octopus to the left, of the family Abdopus aculeatus, is 'bringing' the mating arm inside the right female body - just below the eye.

Sea cucumbers 'uncovered' all organs

This sea cucumber, belonging to the family Bohadschia argus, taken in Celebes waters off the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia is capable of defending against predators in a very interesting way. It extends all the organs inside the body and then 'shoots' out through the anus. After that, the organ regeneration process will start from the digestive tract, and it takes several weeks for the organs to fully regrow.

Newts of red dots reproduce the whole limb

As early as 1768, Dr. Lazzaro Spallanzani investigated the ability to regenerate tails, eyes and even the entire upper body in newts (in the group close to the salamander). When a newts lose a limb, the cells in the damaged area will conduct 'de-differenciate' to return to the stem cells.

The stem cells then form a block of cells called 'cells' from which new limbs will grow back. In a 2007 study of red-spotts, researcher Anoop Kumar and colleagues from University College London showed a protein called nAG - secreted by nerve and skin cells - as the key to helping formation of stem cells.

Flattening (Planaria) separates itself into two

Cutting a flock will turn them into two. These non-parasitic worms live in the water or in humid environments on land. There are thousands of flattened flukes scattered from less than 1 millimeter to more than 60 centimeters in size as flukes hunting Bipalium Kewense. Flukes can regenerate tissues by the ability to reproduce cells themselves and by using stem cells with flexible cell names (neoblast) to replicate available tissues. Flexible stem cells, which are not differentiated and distributed throughout the animal's body.

Any part of the body of the Stenostomum that breaks off its main body can develop into a complete flukes. This makes them the ideal model organisms for laboratories. The Dugesia freshwater flakes, in this picture, were separated by scalpels from head to throat, resulting in a two-headed flukes.

Neurological disks and useful hands of starfish

Like sea cucumbers, starfish are echinoderms and therefore have nervous systems scattered inside and under the skin. Starfish have a central nervous disk around the mouth.

Some starfish can separate this central nerve disc into two halves, each developing into a new starfish. Some starfish need an arm and a small part of the central disc to recreate. The Crimean starfish species in Indo-Pacific Sea (including the Indian Ocean with the West and Central Pacific) is a renewable master because it can recreate the entire body with just one remaining arm. However, when an arm or nerve disk is damaged, it can adversely affect body regeneration.

The arms of the seven-handed starfish photographed here show the different stages of the regeneration process.

Tendered gecko

The mechanism of tail-breaking has evolved in several groups of geckos, lizards and salamanders that make it possible to shed its tail when caught by predators. These animals have blocks called 'broken pieces' that are regularly distributed along the animal's tail or in the middle of the vertebrae. To break the tail itself, the specialized muscles will contact the broken pieces, helping to fracture the vertebrae. After that, the muscles will gather around the vertebrae of the tail to stop bleeding.

These self-defense lizards often have light tails, the tail can continue to wiggle after splitting to lure the predator's attention, helping the lizard have enough time to escape. The new tail will grow back from a cartilage at the position where the vertebrae have broken. The tail of the gecko in this image has grown into two branches from a previous break.