Mitosis - Why does a lizard's tail grow back? |

Topic: Mitosis
How does a house lizard regenerate its tail?
Have you ever wondered how we grow from a 20 inch new born baby to a 70 inch teenager?
This is because every minute millions of cells in our body divide to form new cells.
These new cells then further divide to form more cells.
In this way, the number of cells in our body increases and we grow taller.
Mitosis is a process through which cells in our body divide.
Mitosis is used by organisms not only for growth but also for repair, replacement and asexual reproduction.
Hey. Were they exact copies of each other?
Yes.
In mitosis, a parent cell divides to form two identical daughter cells.
Both of them have exactly the same genetic material.
Hence, they are exact copies of each other.
Hey. Did the head of the scarecrow just grow back?
Yes.
You will be surprised to know that some organisms like a house lizard can regenerate their cut or damaged body parts through mitosis.
When the house lizard's tail gets cut, it regenerates its tail through mitosis.
Each cell around the cut tail starts to divide and forms two identical daughter cells.
Again each of these daughter cells further divides to form two more daughter cells, thus helping the lizard to regenerate its tail.