tail
Sign in to savethumb|A white-tailed deer's tail The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolved to lose their tails (e.g. frogs and hominid primates), the coccyx is the homologous vestigial of the tail. While tails are primarily considered a feature of vertebrates, some invertebrates such as scorpions and springtails, as well as snails and slugs, have tail-like appendages that are also referred to as tails.
AI overview
A tail is a flexible, elongated appendage that extends backward from the rear end of an animal's body, found in many vertebrates like deer as well as some invertebrates like scorpions. Tails matter because they serve various functions for animals and represent an important evolutionary feature—even in animals that no longer have visible tails, like humans, vestigial remnants called the coccyx show where a tail once was.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Function
- Neuronal control
- Human tails
- Gallery
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|A white-tailed deer's tail The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolved to lose their tails (e.g. frogs and hominid primates), the coccyx is the homologous vestigial of the tail. While tails are primarily considered a feature of vertebrates, some invertebrates such as scorpions and springtails, as well as snails and slugs, have tail-like appendages that are also referred to as tails.
Tail-shaped objects are sometimes referred to as "caudate" (e.g. caudate lobe, caudate nucleus), and the body part associated with or proximal to the tail are given the adjective "caudal" (which is considered a more precise anatomical terminology).