prehensile tails
Monkey's fifth limb
A prehensile tail is one adapted for grasping, functioning almost like a fifth limb.
Monkeys, opossums, and certain other animals use prehensile tails to grip branches, hang from trees, or manipulate objects: The spider monkey wrapped its prehensile tail around the branch.
The term extends to any tail capable of seizing or holding.
- primatesOrder of higher mammals
- swingingMoving in arcs
- climbingAscending by physical effort
- graspingGreedy for wealth
- grip strengthHand squeezing power
hanging upside down · vertebrae · seahorse · nerve endings · muscularity · rainforest canopy · flexibility · balancing · holding · manipulating · convergent evolution · opposable thumbs · tropical forests · kinkajou · arboreal · marsupials · howler · treetop
- animal featuresbeaks, scales, antlers, fur, ears
- jungle adaptationsbuttress roots, broad leaves, epiphytes, lianas, tree dwelling