# Gopher turtles: Is peeing on themselves their only defense? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2013, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gopher-turtles-is-peeing-on-themselves-their-only-defense/668824 "2013-09-14T05:07:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alba)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gopher-turtles-is-peeing-on-themselves-their-only-defense/668824/21 "2013-09-20T09:06:15Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > I would agree that fear reactions are not the same as a defense tactic, but using a lizard dropping its tail is a terrible example. That is clearly both a fear reaction and a defense tactic. The lizard doesn’t drop its tail through some unemotional analysis of the pros and cons\*. It gets scared enough, it drops the tail. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autotomy#Vertebrates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autotomy#Vertebrates) > [@](#): > > In most lizards that sacrifice the tail in this manner, **breakage occurs only when the tail is grasped with sufficient force** , but some animals, such as some species of geckos, can perform true autotomy, throwing off the tail when sufficiently stressed, such as when attacked by ants. Emphasis mine. That doesn’t mean the animal is in fear. Geckos that can perform true autotomy can do it when sufficiently stressed. Again, that doesn’t necessarily imply fear. ---
**Author:** ![Alba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alba)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gopher-turtles-is-peeing-on-themselves-their-only-defense/668824/22 "2013-09-20T09:18:00Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > \*And I think Chronos’ main point in talking about this is that the reptilian brain isn’t advanced enough for an unemotional analysis. When it feels fear, it reacts in a pre-set fear response. Presumably, this pre-set response also aids it in surviving long enough to reproduce and thus the fear response is simultaneously a defense tactic. To try to separate fear and defense in an animal with such a simple brain is not really possible. Nitpick, Chronos doesn’t specify. He states they are the same thing. I highly doubt they are the same thing in every species. You think shitting yourself in fear works well as a defence tactic? [Lion on the savannah] “Oh my, the smell of this guy shitting himself is truly atrocious. My appetite for eating his intestine has gone. Pesky humans and their defence tactics.” ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gopher-turtles-is-peeing-on-themselves-their-only-defense/668824/23 "2013-09-20T16:55:30Z")
> [@Alba](#): > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autotomy#Vertebrates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autotomy#Vertebrates) > Emphasis mine. That doesn’t mean the animal is in fear. Geckos that can perform true autotomy can do it when sufficiently stressed. Again, that doesn’t necessarily imply fear. What exactly is your definition of fear? A lizard being attacked by ants, sufficiently “stressed” to the point of dropping off a major body part is not in fear? If it is not a fear response, the only other option I see is that you think the lizard, after some internal debate, consciously decided that the loss of its tail would be beneficial in its fight against the ants. Do you think lizards are even aware of their ability to drop their tails? ---
**Author:** ![Alba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alba)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gopher-turtles-is-peeing-on-themselves-their-only-defense/668824/24 "2013-09-23T08:23:26Z")
> [@RedSwinglineOne](#): > > What exactly is your definition of fear? A lizard being attacked by ants, sufficiently “stressed” to the point of dropping off a major body part is not in fear? I would say that when a lizard sees a predator that will provoke a fear response; heightened senses, adrenaline rush (or the reptilian equivalent), etc. But it will not immediately drop its tail. Not until being chased, attacked or, with the majority of lizards, till force has been applied to their tail by an other animal. > [@RedSwinglineOne](#): > > If it is not a fear response, the only other option I see is that you think the lizard, after some internal debate, consciously decided that the loss of its tail would be beneficial in its fight against the ants. Do you think lizards are even aware of their ability to drop their tails? …Really? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gopher-turtles-is-peeing-on-themselves-their-only-defense/668824.md?page=1)