Why do lizards lose their tail?

There was a lizard inside our house on the sliding screen door.

We tried to take it outside, but we also tried to pet it, and it ran in mom's hair. It got tangled. This isn't the real picture, it's a reinactment.

Mom and I went outside. Mom went to the playhouse. I tried to get it out of my mom's hair. The lizard was very excited/scared. I got the lizard free and it fell. Its tail fell off when it hit the ground.

The lizard ran away. I got the tail, it was wiggling. We looked it up, it is a New Mexican Whiptail lizard.

Lizards lose their tail to escape predators. The wiggling tail distracts the predator. Lizards can grow their tail back, it is called regeneration. Axolotles can regrow a a lot of stuff, their gills, legs, and heart, but just part of it, not the whole heart, because if you take their whole heart away, they would die.