A tail of conspicuous coloration is hypothesized to be an advantageous trait for many species of lizards. Predator attacks would be directed to a non-vital, and autotomizable, body part, increasing the chance of survival. However, as body size increases it also increases the signaling area that could attract predators from greater distances, increasing the overall chance of predation. Here, we test the hypothesis that there is a trade-off between tail color and size, affecting predation probabilities. We used plasticine replicas of lizards to study the predation patterns of small and large lizards with red and blue tails. In a natural environment, we exposed six hundred replicas to the attacks of free-ranging predators. Large red-tailed replicas were more attacked by birds. Mammals and unidentified predators showed no preference for any size or colors. The attacks were not primarily directed to conspicuous tails when compared to the bodies/heads of our replicas. Our study suggests that red color signals in large lizards could enhance their detection by visually oriented predators (i.e., birds). The efficacy of conspicuous tails as a decoy may rely on associated behavioral displays, which are hard to test with static replicas.

一条显眼的尾巴被认为是许多蜥蜴物种的优势特征。捕食者的攻击将针对非重要且可自动切割的身体部位，从而增加生存机会。然而，随着体型的增加，它也增加了可以从更远距离吸引捕食者的信号区域，增加了捕食的总体机会。在这里，我们测试了尾巴颜色和大小之间存在权衡，影响捕食概率的假设。我们使用蜥蜴的橡皮泥复制品来研究具有红色和蓝色尾巴的大小蜥蜴的捕食模式。在自然环境中，我们将 600 个复制品暴露在自由捕食者的攻击下。大型红尾复制品更容易受到鸟类的攻击。哺乳动物和身份不明的捕食者对任何大小或颜色都没有偏好。与我们复制品的身体/头部相比，攻击主要不是针对显眼的尾巴。我们的研究表明，大型蜥蜴中的红色信号可以增强视觉导向的捕食者（即鸟类）对它们的检测。显眼的尾巴作为诱饵的效果可能依赖于相关的行为表现，这很难用静态复制品进行测试。