What is the primary function of the vigorously wriggling detached whiptail tail segment?
Answer
To serve as a potent distraction drawing the predator's focus
When a whiptail lizard sheds its tail through autotomy, the detached segment exhibits energetic, independent movement, wriggling vigorously for a significant amount of time. The crucial purpose of this sustained movement is defensive: it acts as a potent distraction specifically designed to draw the predator’s focus and attention entirely onto the wriggling appendage, allowing the actual lizard body the necessary opportunity to flee and escape into nearby cover.
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