What good is a tail? Well, that depends on what you do. A jumping
kangaroo rat's long tail acts as a stabilizer, ensuring that it lands on its feet,
not its nose. In fact, tails are vital as balancers for thousands of animals. On the
other hand, the short tail of a pocket gopher acts as an early warning system. Living
in underground tunnels, it often must travel backwards—the tail, held stiffly behind
it, warns of tunnel twists and turns. The tail of a rattlesnake warns potential
predators that its not be trifled with, and the tail of a scorpion, with its poisonous
sting at the end, makes it an efficient predator. Some kinds of bats can use their
tail, with its attached membrane, like a basket, scooping their insect prey from the
air. Tails for propulsion, as in fish, or sexual attraction, as in peacocks; or as fly
swatters, as in horse and cattle—we could spend hours listing what good a tail is! Now,
don't you, as a tailless creature, feel deprived?
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Tails: The stinger of a velvet ant and the tail of a scorpion, the sensory tails of a vinegaroon and a pocket gopher, the last third of the balancing tail of a Banner-tail Kangaroo Rat, and the propulsion tail of a fish.