After all, lizards are a popular prey to animals like eagles and snakes. They have camoflaged skin and the ability to stay still like a statue. They can also sprint away, because speed is the lizards main defence. If these defences fail, then many lizards have the ability to sacrifice their tails. In some species of lizards, their tail is more brightly coloured than the rest of their body so the predator will go for the tail.
Many lizards have green or blue tails.
These colours are bright enough to be distracting but they are not easy for the enemy to spot from a distance. Shedding their tail is not common to all species of lizards but for those that are common there are two different methods to shed their tail. When the lizard is caught by its tail, it will split the vertebrae and shed part of its tail that is being held by its attacker. The other method is that the lizards tail breaks between the vertebrae but lizards that shed them this way seem less able to grow them again. A regrown tail looks similar to the original.