Strictly speaking, the tail-like structures found in everything from scorpions to mayflies are not true tails. Only vertebrates – animals with a spine – are genuine tail-owners.
And among vertebrates, tails are really common. In fact, we humans usually develop one too, then lose it while still an embryo. All that’s left is the tail bone, or coccyx, at the end of our spine.
Tails come in pretty handy. So much so that many vertebrates use them rather like an extra hand. They can be held out for balance, thrust side to side to swim, wagged or waved to send messages, and deployed as fly whisks, rudders, drumsticks or whips.
The longest true tail belongs to the common thresher shark. Its amazing tail has a scythe-shaped upper lobe that may be as long as its body, and in some big individuals is thought to reach 3m in length.
There are three species of thresher shark, all of which wield their extraordinary tail to herd and stun their fish and squid prey. Often, thresher sharks will hunt as a group, circling around a shoal of fish to make them bunch up, before powering in to tail-slap their prey and swallow their stunned victims whole.
More amazing wildlife stories from around the world
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- Mysterious deep-sea sharks are gathering between Denmark, Sweden and Norway – and we know why
- When this tiger shark bumped into a ray, something truly shocking happened
- Scientists stunned to see humpback whales trying to send messages to humans
Main image: a thresher shark. Credit: Getty
