Well, we start out with tails in the womb, but it gets absorbed later in gestation. Once in awhile, a baby gets born with a tail. In India, they have been worshipped.
Actually, humans do have a tail. It’s called a coccyx or more commonly referred to as the tailbone. Shrunk due to that evolution thingy. You do know about shrinkage, don’t you?
Current human config makes tailoring trousers much easier. Early humans probably started cutting their tails off for that reason. That, and trying to avoid getting them caught in swinging doors.
Stone-age guys living in the desert probably wouldn’t know about octopuses or apes or even toads. And as for insects, that wasn’t what either would have in mind for ‘animal’ in this context. Just like if someone tells you they saw an animal in their backyard you know they aren’t referring to a bee or an ant. But where i do think the strip is somewhat unrealistic is that throughout most of human history mankind hasn’t seen itself as an animal: you had animals, you had man, and you had the gods. So it’s unlikely anyone back then would think it strange animals have something we lack or vice-versa.
I was thinking about how science fiction movies and tv shows so often depict alien creatures as basically humans with different facial features. Realizing how few species on Earth look anything like us, I highly doubt sentient life in the universe would mimic us so completely.
I know it’s easier to just put an actor in makeup than to CGI a different species, but even in a movie like Avatar (where CGI is used extensively) the ‘alien’ species is basically humanoid.
You had a tail! I had a tail! All humans had tails! In the womb. It disappears before birth. “Although the human tail is completely absent at birth, the embryonic tail is formed just as in other tailed amniotes.” [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29315541]
Farside99 over 5 years ago
Well, we start out with tails in the womb, but it gets absorbed later in gestation. Once in awhile, a baby gets born with a tail. In India, they have been worshipped.
Enter.Name.Here over 5 years ago
Mordock999 Premium Member over 5 years ago
Five animals without tails. Hmmmmmm, Well let’s see:
1) Octopus
2) Starfish
3) Chimpanzee
4) Gorilla
5) That poor donkey they keep trying to pin the tail on…….,
Trilobyte Premium Member over 5 years ago
Spiders, ants, octopuses, frogs, protozoa, butterflies… As for humans, what is not used tends to disappear over time.
The Reader Premium Member over 5 years ago
A tail of two cavemen!
ellisaana Premium Member over 5 years ago
Toads, orangutans, bees, gorillas, Manx cats (they have a stub, but so do some humans)
franksmin over 5 years ago
Actually, humans do have a tail. It’s called a coccyx or more commonly referred to as the tailbone. Shrunk due to that evolution thingy. You do know about shrinkage, don’t you?
Troglodyte over 5 years ago
Everything is in the de-tails!
Watcher over 5 years ago
The tail is always at the end and so is this very short tale.
Skeptical Meg over 5 years ago
Most animals are invertebrates, and do bot have tails.
I feel like the tail is a cork to keep the spinal fluid in. :)jimchronister2016 over 5 years ago
Fact is most all animals including humans had tails at one time but some lost them thru evolution. Check it out ! Google it!
wirepunchr over 5 years ago
Who doesn’t want a little tail.
ptnjbrown over 5 years ago
Plenty of humans have tales. They are called writers. (Or kids caught doing something wrong.)
derdave969 over 5 years ago
Do we add snakes to the without tails pile, or decide they are all one big tail? Enquiring minds want to know.
DanFlak over 5 years ago
I think having a prehensile tail would be neat. I guess I’ll have to settle for prehensile toes.
keltii over 5 years ago
https://primcousa.com/animals-without-tail/
blakerl over 5 years ago
Was that an April fools joke?? I ask because it was not funny.
rmercer Premium Member over 5 years ago
Uh, worms…. no wait, they’re all tail!
sandpiper over 5 years ago
Current human config makes tailoring trousers much easier. Early humans probably started cutting their tails off for that reason. That, and trying to avoid getting them caught in swinging doors.
eladee AKA Wally over 5 years ago
I guess the question should have been Name 5 mammals without tails! And I can’t.
ahem Premium Member over 5 years ago
Stone-age guys living in the desert probably wouldn’t know about octopuses or apes or even toads. And as for insects, that wasn’t what either would have in mind for ‘animal’ in this context. Just like if someone tells you they saw an animal in their backyard you know they aren’t referring to a bee or an ant. But where i do think the strip is somewhat unrealistic is that throughout most of human history mankind hasn’t seen itself as an animal: you had animals, you had man, and you had the gods. So it’s unlikely anyone back then would think it strange animals have something we lack or vice-versa.
saje49 over 5 years ago
I always wanted a tail just like my cat – sooo expressive.
JohnHouck over 5 years ago
I was thinking about how science fiction movies and tv shows so often depict alien creatures as basically humans with different facial features. Realizing how few species on Earth look anything like us, I highly doubt sentient life in the universe would mimic us so completely.
I know it’s easier to just put an actor in makeup than to CGI a different species, but even in a movie like Avatar (where CGI is used extensively) the ‘alien’ species is basically humanoid.
joelucas over 5 years ago
Koala, Manx cat
vaughnrl2003 Premium Member over 5 years ago
I understand we have a residual tail, thus the tailbone(Coccyx) but that does not negate the discussion. Why did we lose our tails?
michael3114 over 5 years ago
Once in a while, humans are born with tails. They are usually removed surgically to keep them from being ostracized.
1953Baby over 5 years ago
Obviously, these guys have NEVER had a broken tail bone. Thank god for rubber donuts. . .
WCraft Premium Member over 5 years ago
Kale, Okra, Acorns, Walnuts, Kumquats…
DCBakerEsq over 5 years ago
Amoeba
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace over 5 years ago
We have tails, vestigial and verrrrrry short, but tails.
Nazor over 5 years ago
You had a tail! I had a tail! All humans had tails! In the womb. It disappears before birth. “Although the human tail is completely absent at birth, the embryonic tail is formed just as in other tailed amniotes.” [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29315541]
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 5 years ago
I think he means animals that should have tails. Octopi never will have tails. Apes of course.