I'm Your Mom Now

I have examined dozens of museum specimens of these geckos, and I haven't found a single one that appeared never to have lost at least some part of its skin or tail and regrown them. So, although it seems extreme, this is something these geckos do readily, and are specially adapted to do. Remarkably, they seem to be able to make a full recovery, even when a huge portion of the skin is lost in this way. They seek shelter in a humid spot, and let the skin regrow—a process that apparently only takes a matter of weeks. And yes, it's the whole dermis, not just the scales. This makes my work as a taxonomist very hard, because counting scales is one of the most reliable ways to tell lizard species apart.