They have even evolved the ability to autotomize and to regenerate the lost appendages subsequently (Wada, 2017).

The ability of the aeolids to autotomize and regenerate their cerata supports this hypothesis (Thompson, 1960b; Edmunds, 1966; Miller, 2000; Fleming, 2007), as does the observation that, when attacked, aeolids typically contract the body and the rhinophores, while holding the cerata more erect and oriented toward the attacking predator (Edmunds, 1966; Aguado and Marin, 2007).

Males induced to autotomize a claw showed little reduction in their competitive ability; however, those subject to the fishery practice of manual declawing showed a marked decrease in their competitive ability.

Injuries are thus particularly studied in animals having the ability to autotomize a body part (Formanowicz., 1990; Maginnis, 2006) or to regenerate missing part, which is after this process different from original body part (Gvozdik, 2000; Maginnis, 2006).

Young lizards that autotomize their tails may lose resources important to somatic growth at a critical time, and thus, regeneration may be especially costly.

An important aspect of autotomy is that this process is, to some varying extent, at the discretion of the individual, and the 'willingness' of an animal to lose an appendage (i.e., time to autotomize an entrapped limb) may therefore reflect its present circumstances.