Prehensile tail

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A prehensile-tailed spider monkey Prehensile (PSF).png
A prehensile-tailed spider monkey

A prehensile tail is the tail of an animal that has adapted to grasp or hold objects. [1] Fully prehensile tails can be used to hold and manipulate objects, and in particular to aid arboreal creatures in finding and eating food in the trees. If the tail cannot be used for this it is considered only partially prehensile; such tails are often used to anchor an animal's body to dangle from a branch, or as an aid for climbing. The term prehensile means "able to grasp" (from the Latin prehendere, to take hold of, to grasp). [2]

Contents

Evolution

One point of interest is the distribution of animals with prehensile tails. The prehensile tail is predominantly a New World adaptation, especially among mammals. [1] Many more animals in South America have prehensile tails than in Africa and Southeast Asia. It has been argued that animals with prehensile tails are more common in South America because the forest there is denser than in Africa or Southeast Asia. [3] In contrast, less dense forests such as in Southeast Asia have been observed to have more abundant gliding animals such as colugos or flying snakes; few gliding vertebrates are found in South America. South American rainforests also differ by having more lianas, as there are fewer large animals to eat them than in Africa and Asia; the presence of lianas may aid climbers but obstruct gliders. [4] Curiously, Australia-New Guinea contains many mammals with prehensile tails and also many mammals which can glide; in fact, all Australian mammalian gliders have tails that are prehensile to an extent.

Anatomy and physiology

Tails are mostly a feature of vertebrates; however, some invertebrates such as scorpions also have appendages that can be considered tails. However, only vertebrates are known to have developed prehensile tails. Many mammals with prehensile tails will have a bare patch to aid gripping. This bare patch is known as a "friction pad".

Animals with fully prehensile tails

Mammals

A northern tamandua (Tamandua mexicana) making use of its prehensile tail Tamandua anteater Costa Rica.jpg
A northern tamandua ( Tamandua mexicana ) making use of its prehensile tail

Fish

Animals with partially prehensile tails

Mammals

Reptiles

Mediterranean chameleon using its prehensile tail Ramon Crater chameleon.jpg
Mediterranean chameleon using its prehensile tail

Amphibians

Fish

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mammal classification</span> Taxonomy of mammals

Mammalia is a class of animal within the phylum Chordata. Mammal classification has been through several iterations since Carl Linnaeus initially defined the class. No classification system is universally accepted; McKenna & Bell (1997) and Wilson & Reader (2005) provide useful recent compendiums. Many earlier ideas from Linnaeus et al. have been completely abandoned by modern taxonomists, among these are the idea that bats are related to birds or that humans represent a group outside of other living things. Competing ideas about the relationships of mammal orders do persist and are currently in development. Most significantly in recent years, cladistic thinking has led to an effort to ensure that all taxonomic designations represent monophyletic groups. The field has also seen a recent surge in interest and modification due to the results of molecular phylogenetics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Fleagle, J. G. (1998). Primate Adaptation and Evolution (2nd ed.). Academic Press. pp.  172. ISBN   978-0-12-260341-9.
  2. 1 2 Roze, U. (2012). Porcupines: The Animal Answer Guide. JHU Press. p. 32. ISBN   9781421407357.
  3. 1 2 Organ, J. M. (2008). The Functional Anatomy of Prehensile and Nonprehensile Tails of the Platyrrhini (Primates) and Procyonidae (Carnivora). Johns Hopkins University. ISBN   9780549312260.
  4. "Life in the Rainforest". Archived from the original on 2006-05-06. Retrieved 2006-04-15.
  5. González, E.M.; Claramunt, S. (2000). "Behaviors of captive short-tailed Opossums, Monodelphis dimidiata (Wagner, 1847) (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae)". Mammalia. 64 (3): 271–286. doi:10.1515/mamm.2000.64.3.271. S2CID   84782113.
  6. Nature on PBS (2023-10-09). Baby Platypus Caught on Camera . Retrieved 2024-08-17 via YouTube.
  7. Badger, D. P. (2006). Lizards: A Natural History of Some Uncommon Creatures - Extraordinary Chameleons, Iguanas, Geckos, and More. Voyageur Press. ISBN   9781610604406.
  8. Naish, D. (2008). "Chinese black rhinos and deinotheres, giant sengis, and yet more new lemurs". ScienceBlogs . Retrieved 2013-04-12.
  9. Rosamond Gifford Zoo Volunteers (July 23, 2005). "Lined Seahorse" (PDF).