prehensile tail
Monkey's fifth limb
A prehensile tail is one adapted for grasping and holding, functioning almost like a fifth limb.
Found in certain monkeys, opossums, and other animals, such tails can wrap around branches to provide stability or allow the animal to hang while freeing its hands.
The term prehensile, from a Latin word meaning to grasp, distinguishes these tails from those used only for balance or communication.
- graspingGreedy for wealth
- kinkajousArboreal tropical procyonids
- arborealOf or in trees
- tree dwellingHome built in branches
- climbingAscending by physical effort
opossums · monkeys · mammal · pangolins · flexible · chameleons · balancing · spider monkey · convergent evolution · muscular · tool use · hanging · hanging upside down · canopy · jungle canopy · vertebrae · natural selection · gripping