I read this interesting article and couldn’t help thinking why Tails are such an often used figure of speech in the English language — heads I win, tails you lose, the sting in the tail, to catch a tiger by its tail, tuck tail between legs, wag a tail , tail end , tailgate , hold up the tail, and many more …
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There are more than 50 types of Monkeys but only 7 kinds of Apes. We all know one major difference between the two – Apes do not have Tails. But this organ plays a major role among most species. Read on –
How important are tails? Do most animal tails have the same basic function? What are some interesting tail facts?
Tails in the animal world can serve just about any conceivable purpose under the sun! Let’s take a look at the remarkable variety of tails found in nature. For one thing, they can be surprisingly effective weapons. Many animals use their tails when hunting. Thresher sharks use their absurdly large caudal fins to literally slap small fish and stun them!
Tail-slapping is also a common behaviour in orcas. They are often observed punting their prey skywards for no apparent reason other than the fun of it. With a single flick of its tail, an orca can launch a seal as much as 25 metres into the air!
Other animal tails are used to deliver a deadly dosage of venom. Those of scorpions, of course, are in the business of dispatching prey.
Whereas those of stingrays have a more defensive purpose.
Various prehistoric animals – most famously the ankylosaurs – had a bony club at the end of their tails which surely proved a brutally effective defense mechanism. After all, what could survive a blow from one of these, dealt by an armoured dinosaur bigger than an elephant?
An even more interesting case is perhaps that of the surgeonfish. This type of fish gets its name from the little orange thing you can see on its tail: a vicious spike, as razor-sharp as a surgical scalpel. There’s one on either side. Normally, the scalpels lie flush with the tail, but if the fish feels threatened, it will flick them out like switchblades. To make matters worse, they are coated in venom!
Dory from Finding Nemo is a blue tang – a species of surgeonfish!
Some tails are not weapons per se, but can nevertheless be used to catch prey. The spider-tailed horned viper is an ingenious example. The tip of its tail bears an incredible resemblance to a spider. The viper will lie camouflaged and gently shake its tail, so as to even imitate a spider’s movements. Birds, thinking they’ve found themselves a meal, swoop down, and find themselves in the jaws of the crafty snake.
A bizarre shark, the tasselled wobbegong, has adopted a remarkably similar strategy. Thanks to its amazing camouflage and weirdly flat body, it can hide in plain sight on the seabed, lying in wait unbeknownst to its prey. While most of its body stays motionless, it allows its tail to move about and swish in the current.
The tail is in fact imitating the behaviour of a fish – it resembles one too, even having dark “eyespots” to mimic eyes. Hungry sea creatures see the faux fish and make a beeline, before getting engulfed by the wobbegong’s massive maw.
Only in Australia will you find the weird tails of phasmid geckos. Unlike most geckos, which only emerge at night, phasmid geckos can be seen out and about during the day. This makes them vulnerable to predatory birds… thankfully, the lizards have a trick up their sleeve.
They have the amazing ability of shooting a foul-smelling liquid from their tails. The substance is actually harmless, but the nasty odour is enough to deter birds.
Geckos, along with many other lizards, salamanders and the lesser-known tuataras, are also famous for a different tail-related superpower: autotomy. Literally, this term translates as “self-amputation”. When one of these creatures is caught by the tail by a predator, the tail will simply detach from the body, allowing them a chance to escape!
Generally, the tail grows back after autotomy, though not to its former glory. Save for some rare exceptions, a simple rod of cartilage will replace what was once a column of bony vertebrae.
In the animal world, tails have many uses related to locomotion, too. The prehensile tail is a remarkable adaptation that many different groups have figured out. Highly mobile and able to grasp objects, it can effectively function as a fifth limb to help animals climb.
Prehensile tails are seen in too many mammals to name – everything from New World monkeys to the adorable kinkajou.
Even silky anteaters have them!
Seahorses also have prehensile tails, not to climb, but to wrap around seaweed or coral. This way, they don’t get swept away in a strong current. Fascinatingly, the cross section of their tails is not round, but square. This allows maximum surface area to grasp whatever they are attached to.
Similarly, the strange tentacled snake of Southeast Asian waterways uses its tail to anchor itself to riverbeds while it lies in wait for unsuspecting prey to swim by.
The tail of the cheetah is exceptionally long, and densely packed with musculature. It effectively acts as a rudder – when the cheetah changes direction at speed, it extends fully, becoming a counterweight to resist the immense forces that would otherwise topple the cat. The species has a reputation for being a speed demon, but its agility is arguably even more impressive – its ability to turn on a dime is unmatched.
Its cousin the lion has a fluffy black tip on its tail, which actually serves as an ingenious communication feature. The black fur stands out starkly against the golden savannah grass, so lions on the move can easily see where the rest of the pride is at all times.
However, since the tail is behind the body, it doesn’t give away a camouflaged lion’s position to potential prey. Lions have black patches on the back of their ears for the same reason.
The tails of wolves, and by extension domestic dogs, have an even more sophisticated communication purpose. Subtle changes in the position or movement of the tail can tell you a lot about how a wolf is currently feeling.
Then, of course, you have all the animals which use their tails to show off. In many species – birds, in particular – the tail is a display feature, full of dazzling colours for attracting mates. The peacock is the prototypical example, though I find the peacock spiders named after them just as stunning.
Display tails in other birds can reach rather hilarious proportions. There’s one which I’ve had the privilege of seeing in the wild myself, the long-tailed widowbird of East Africa. The males have gigantic tail feathers, the massive weight of which renders them useless at flying.
I’m also partial to the amazing tail plumage of the aptly named superb lyrebird.
Perhaps the weirdest tail purpose out there is that of the binturong – a pee paintbrush. This animal is known as the bearcat, though in truth it is neither, being more closely related to civets and genets. It dwells high up in the trees in Southeast Asian jungles, and believe it or not, its urine smells strongly of popcorn. In order to mark its territory, the binturong will urinate on its tail, and then sweep the tail across branches to “paint” them with scent!
Also, while we’re here… another fun fact, as requested. What animal has the longest tail relative to its body size? That would be the Asian grass lizard, whose tail can be up to four times the length of the rest of the body! It is prehensile, allowing the reptile to adeptly climb trees, and can be detached and regrown.
So that was probably enough examples to fill a whole novel. I would title such a book The Canterbury Tails. I hope you found some of this interesting, it was fun to write! Thank you for reading.
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Let me tell you that after reading all about Tails above, I couldn’t also help admiring Sage Valmiki’s creativity in the Ramayana while depicting the destruction of Lanka by Hanuman using his tail as a deadly flame-thrower ! Amazing to conceive of the Tail as a weapon of mass destruction! 😊
Sudarshan Madabushi