Tales About Tails Trivia Quiz

Answer: Coccyx

The coccyx is known as the tailbone. Surprise, surprise. Medically, it's described as "the final segment of the vertebral column in tailless primates". A non-medical description would be the part that hurts the most if you plonk down on it too hard. Because it consists of up to five separate sections, all or some of these can be broken in a fall, which, as you may agree, would be a somewhat embarrassing and painful experience.

Answer: Vestigial tail

Apparently our tails, if you believe we're descended from apes, are the remnant of somewhat longer tails all our far distant ancestors once possessed. All mammals possess a tail, some with more tail than others. During the first stage of a newly created embryo's development in the womb, at approximately one month old, this tail can still be clearly seen for a period of four weeks or so.

Its original purpose for early humans was to help with mobility, but, as this is no longer a necessity with modern man, the tail very, very rarely develops any further. Occasionally, in genetic defects present at birth for some little babies, this vestigial tail however can still appear.

Answer: Balance

A kangaroo couldn't hop without its tail. It would just fall over sideways instead. The tail is part of the necessary equipment to allow it to do so, for, as it leans backwards on the tail for balance, this enables the kangaroo to lift its two powerful hind legs off the ground and take its giant leaps forward.

The tail in fact is a little like a rudder in this regard. This fascinating combination can be seen at work in slow motion when the kangaroo is in grazing mode and just needs to lazily move from one clump of grass to the next.

Answer: Grasp objects and branches with their tails

It's quite amazing really to see this feature at work, and perhaps just a little bit creepy. It's as though the tail acts like another arm. Not only can these animals hold and manipulate various objects and food with their tails, so powerful are these attachments that they can even curl around branches and enable their owners to quickly move from tree to tree.

This last fact has led scientists to argue that prehensile tailed monkeys are more prevalent in South America because there are more trees clumped together there.

Answer: To warn others of approaching danger

Many deer with white undersides to their little scuts of tails use this colouring by flashing it up and down to warn others of their species that potential threats are nearby. How impressive is that? A sort of deer Morse code.

Answer: Rectrices

Rectrices enable those beautiful creatures of the air to glide through the ether, and to change direction to whichever way they want to go. Half the rectrices, which are always found in a line at the bottom of the tail are either attached directly to the bird's spine or act as support for those spinal attachments.

Incredibly so, they also enable birds to brake quickly should they have to do so. These supporting rectrices could even be described as flying buttresses.

Answer: It wouldn't be able to fly

What a foolish waste of salt. It seems odd that people believed this to be the case, and that if the bird had salt on its tail, it wouldn't be able to fly and thus be easily caught. One wonders if the thought ever occurred to them that if they were close enough to a bird to pour salt on its tail, they could have caught it anyway.

This comical belief dates back at least to the sixteenth century.

Answer: Tail of a cat

Because of its resemblance to the tail curled around a rather plump cat, this gave rise to the name for this symbol. In Holland, on the other hand, the sign is known as an "Apenstaartje". That translates to tail of a monkey. In the English language, the @ sign was once used widely in accountancy and bookkeeping.

It was considered to be an abbreviation for the term "at the rate of". 10 lbs tea @ 10s per lb for example meant that one purchased seven pounds of tea costing ten shillings per pound. Now how could you ever have lived without these edifying pieces of information?

Answer: A supernatural being

The Yokai were ancient supernatural beings that roamed the Japanese countryside, so the old belief went. They were capable of either bringing bad luck to a household or business, or creating mischief for the pure fun of it, or, if a person was really lucky upon meeting one, bringing good fortune into that person's life.

The trick to becoming one of these powerful creatures was for an animal to miraculously develop extra tails.

Answer: They would know hunger

Fishermen used to be notoriously superstitious, and many still are. There are numerous superstitions and old wives "tails" associated with this craft, including the one listed in this question. Some fishermen will only fish from a particular spot in a boat, for example, and a new rod must be broken in at a favourable fishing spot.

They also believe that if they spit on a worm on a hook, they'll have good luck. The worm however objects somewhat. Another tail belief for them is that if they are slapped by a fish's tail, they'll have bad luck that day.