Science Fact Finder | The Animal World - Can Animals Regenerate Parts Of Their Bodies?

Can animals regenerate parts of their bodies?

Regeneration, the regrowing of a lost or damaged limb, does occur in some animals. However, the ability to regenerate body parts declines progressively with the increasing complexity of animal species. Among primitive invertebrates (animals lacking a backbone), regeneration frequently occurs. For example, a planarium (flatworm) can grow a whole new body from just a strip of tissue. In humans, regeneration merely takes the form of scar tissue growing over a wound.

Regeneration of limbs occurs in some higher invertebrates, such as starfish, some insects, crabs, crayfish, and lobsters. For example, if a crayfish loses a claw, the missing claw will grow back during the next molt (when an animal molts, it sheds its hard outer skin or shell and replaces it with a new one). Sometimes the crayfish's regenerated claw does not achieve the size of the missing claw....

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