Study Reveals Alligators Can Also Regrow Their Tails

Many reptiles are known to regenerate or regrow their torn tails, but unfortunately, they do not have that ability for alligators. Or so many scientists thought back then.

These large reptiles are incredible creatures that seem like living dinosaurs with unchanged biology for millions of years. Even with their huge size, they are incredibly fast and skillful in ambushing their prey. Scientists have focused on learning alligators that it may look as if there is no more to know about them, but that's where scientists are wrong.

According to new research published in Scientific Reports, juvenile American alligators can regenerate some parts of their tails if ever severed by a predator or injured. The scientists remarked that the new findings are surprising given that alligators were known not to have this ability, unlike their cousins in the reptile family.

The results suggest that there could be more to know on anything that even the most researched and well-understood places on the planet may have some more secrets to reveal.

Regrowing Tissues on Mammals and Reptiles

According to National Geographic, every species can somehow regenerate its tissues when injured. For example, mammals can repair their wounds by regenerating some amounts of skin, blood vessels, and minor nerves. But they cannot regenerate or replace severed limbs like most reptiles.

An example of a reptile that can regenerate its limb is the axolotl salamander. They can regenerate their bone and organ tissues and replace their lost limb with near-identical precision.

Biologist Kenro Kusumi from the Arizona State University has examined four regenerated American alligator tails from juvenile American alligators. He used an x-ray machine, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and dissected the tails. He found that the alligators' ability to regenerate somewhat falls between the ability of mammals and lizards.

Study lead author Cindy Xu, a recent Ph.D. graduate from the university, said that it is surprising because, despite the similarities to lizard tails, alligator tails have shown no skeletal muscle regrowth. She added that it was an unexpected result because lizards and some mammals can regenerate skeletal muscles.

The researchers believe that this lack of ability to regenerate skeletal muscles has something to do with conserving energy, BGR reported. The regrowth of such muscle is energetically expensive, which means that the alligator would have to deviate more energy away from more essential processes, Xu said.

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Vulnerable Young Gators

Biologist Adam Rosenblatt of the University of North Florida has long suspected that young alligators have the ability to regrow their tails after it was severed due to an injury or attack. It was just recently that this theory had been confirmed by the study of Kusumi and his colleagues.

Although alligators are big and tough when in their adult stage, they were also once vulnerable young gators on the menu of many species. But alligators are resilient; they are made to withstand any damage because they are tougher than most youngsters. For the young alligators, the ability to regrow their tails has an obvious survival benefit.

Now researchers are keen to know if this ability is also carried on to adulthood and if this is also true on 27 species of crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gharials, Rosenblatt said.