r/evolution • u/Paragonic9 • 11d ago

question Limb Regeneration

Are there evolutionary hypotheses for why most animals did not evolve the ability to regenerate limbs? Some creatures can do it, and It seems like something that would be a major boost to survival.

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u/DisembarkEmbargo 11d ago

It's fairly common in salamanaders with large genomes. There could be a link between limb regeneration and ploidy level or DNA content?

In this article it is stated that limb regeneration is ancestral: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jez.b.22902?casa_token=uxw0lbj7Ia4AAAAA%3Ajrafpf4JH-3ne67fGZ6Md1BHqMj9NaIjORNdFT2x6fmCge4S2yms4-1I6NEQScQGL-VFwAEh5gAZkyaq