Seychelles Day Gecko shed his tail

These were very common in the garden and around the pool at our hotel. I chose this image because of the tail shedding it illustrates, but was pleasantly surprised that I could also add it to the JungleDragon species list. One reads that many lizards can shed their tail to escape predators or when stressed and this one lost his tip while we watched and photographed him. I am not really sure why, since we never touched him or even came close, but it had a full tail when we first saw him and then, a few seconds later, there was just a stump, as you can see in the photo. We searched the grass but could not find the tip. Several gecko internet sites mention that you can tell if "your" pet gecko has done that as there will be almost no blood at the tip - which is what you can see. A fascinating evolutionary defense mechanism.