Jason E. Andersen

Bonus Fun Fact: Alligators are the largest animal that can regrow their tails.

My wife and I were recently at an event where they had a wildlife encounters booth where you could interact with different animals. They had an alligator, snake, and a strange lizard that I don’t remember what the name was. They also had a baby kangaroo that we got to hold. It was pretty cool.

While we’re petting the alligator, the keeper is sharing tidbits about the animal. One of the things they share is that alligators don’t have bones in their tails. Whaaaat? I am pretty terrible with herpetology — I basically know nothing about lizards — and this surprised me. It surprised me so much, I had to look into it more when I got home, and that is what led to this fun fact.

It turns out, alligators DO have bones in their tails. This was quickly verified by several pictures of alligator skeletons. However, if an alligator were to lose its tail (like if a predator bit it off), they have the ability to partially regrow it. The regrown portion is skin and muscle grown on a cartilage ‘skeleton’. The lost bones are not regrown. I think this is where the bonelessness confusion comes in.

There are many animals that can regrow lost body parts. Species of salamander, fish, arthropods, starfish, and lizards can all do this. Alligators, apparently, are the largest animals with this amazing ability.