Mechanistic approach to mimic lizard tail autotomy using deformable microstructures as biological interlock in the soft tissue

In this work, we built a biomimetic model to understand the fundamental mechanism involved in lizard tail autotomy. Bioinspired from a Tokay gecko tail, we fabricated synthetic tails with embedded fracture planes that contained a massively parallel array of hemispherical actuable microstructures in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Tensile fracture experiments on the tail model validated our hypothesis that the microstructures along the fracture planes might play a significant role in the instantaneous shedding of the intact lizard tail in autotomy.