{"686058":{"#nid":"686058","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"\u2018Pirate Lizards\u2019 Can Get Around on 3 Legs","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EScientists have long thought that a lizard losing a leg should be a death sentence. New evidence seems to overturn this assumption, showing that some lizards can not only survive, but even thrive after losing one or more limbs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/james-stroud\u0022\u003EJames Stroud\u003C\/a\u003E, an evolutionary biologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has spent years catching lizards in the wild to study how they evolve. He and his colleagues long thought that even the smallest difference in the length of a lizard\u2019s leg could affect its ability to run from predators and chase their prey. Losing an entire limb seemed much more severe.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, every now and then he and his colleagues would observe something odd. \u201cWe\u2019ll find a lizard completely missing its leg, and it seems fine,\u201d Dr. Stroud said. He casually calls them \u201cthree-legged pirate lizards.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EScientists have long thought that a lizard losing a leg should be a death sentence. New evidence seems to overturn this assumption, showing that some lizards can not only survive, but even thrive after losing one or more limbs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/james-stroud\u0022\u003EJames Stroud\u003C\/a\u003E, an evolutionary biologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has spent years catching lizards in the wild to study how they evolve. He and his colleagues long thought that even the smallest difference in the length of a lizard\u2019s leg could affect its ability to run from predators and chase their prey. Losing an entire limb seemed much more severe.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, every now and then he and his colleagues would observe something odd. \u201cWe\u2019ll find a lizard completely missing its leg, and it seems fine,\u201d Dr. Stroud said. He casually calls them \u201cthree-legged pirate lizards.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2025-10-28 20:31:27","changed_gmt":"2025-10-29 14:25:34","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"The New York Times ","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/21\/science\/lizards-3-legs.html","dateline":{"date":"2025-10-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-10-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"193150","name":"lizards"},{"id":"192250","name":"cos-microbial"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}