On: Axolotl Genome Slowly Yields Secrets of Limb Regrowth

[yani]

If they regrow it and it is painless... it is like removing the wool from a sheep.

[sxdx → yani]

They have a nervous system and DO feel pain, afaik the extent of pain they feel is not really known. A vet had to amputate a limb of an Axolotl I keep as a pet because he got into a fight with another one and he did not even finch.

[callesgg → yani]

Why would it be painless?

[jhoh → callesgg]

If the chances of dying after loosing a limb aren't very high it just doesn't make sense to develop (extreme) pain from an evolutionary perspective.

[jobigoud → jhoh]

Yeah but regrowing limbs arrived after, it's built on top of their tetrapod ancestry. So it's entirely possible that pain is still here as a leftover from when it was a very critical condition.

[jazoom → jhoh]

The chance of me dying from placing my finger on the stove is 0%, but I assure you the pain is severe.

[smt88 → jazoom]

You can't regrow your finger, and having working fingers would've been useful for survival for nearly 100% of your ancestors (the ones that had digits, that is).

There are lizards who lose their tails painlessly as a way to escape predators. If they felt pain in that situation, they might die, so it would've been selected out over time.