Animals are having tails dating back millions of years. There are fossils to suggest that early fish used their fanlike tails as fins to swim through oceans and escape predators. Even dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex used tails to balance their heavy heads and bodies while walking on two legs. We will discuss some of the animals with long tails in the world,
Animals With Long Tails
1. Spider Monkey
Spider Monkeys are New World monkeys that belong to the subfamily Atelinae and family Atelidae. They are mostly seen in the tropical forest regions of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil. One of the ugly monkeys has a body length between 40 to 50 cm in length and an average weight between 6.4 to 12 Kg.
Both males and females look similar and are primitive monkeys of the New World. Their dietary habits are herbivores, and frugivores in nature, and primarily feed on leaves, flowers, nuts, seeds, eggs, insects, and arachnids. The avarage lifespan of a Spider Monkey is between 27 to 33 years. It is also listed as one of the cutest monkeys in the world.
2. Giraffe
Giraffes are the tallest mammals and one of the forest animals with long tails in the world. The favorite food of giraffes is acacia, however, they are also eating leaves of mimosa and apricots. The natural enemies of giraffes are lions and crocodiles. The animal species with long necks spend most of their time standing up and they even sleep and give birth standing up. The spots on the body of the giraffe look similar to human fingerprints where no two individual giraffes have exactly the same pattern. The unique part is now that only need 5 to 30 minutes of sleep in a 24-hour period. They have one of the best types of animal patterns in the world.
Also Read: 10 Types Of Animals With Spots
3. Thresher Shark
The Thresher Shark is among the fish with big eyes that feed on the top of the food chain of schooling fish such as herring and mackerel, however, they also feed on squid and seabirds. The shark species can grow up to 20 feet long and is known for thier long and scythe-like tail which is primarily used to stun fish before preying on them. The avarage lifespan of a thresher shark is between 19 to 50 years in the wild. The adult shark species have only a few predators, however, younger or smaller ones may fall prey to larger sharks. They prefer to swim in temperate waters around the world and hence are seen in the northwest Atlantic Ocean ranging from Newfoundland to Cuba.
Image Source: Wikimedia
4. Angola Colobus
The Angola colobus is a species of Old World monkey belonging to the genus Colobus. The body length of monkey species is between 50 to 70 cm in length and the average weight is between 9 to 20 kg. They are mostly seen in Congo Basin, to the south and northeast of the Congo River, as far as Ruwenzori, Burundi, and southwestern Uganda. Their dietary habits are herbivores and folivores in nature and they primarily feed on ripe fruit, supplemented with full-grown leaves. The avarage lifespan of Angola colobus is between 20 to 30 years.
Image Source: Wikimedia
5. Red Kangaroo
The Red Kangaroo is an Australian animal and also the largest living marsupial in the world. The body length of the kangaroo species is upto 1.4m and the tail can go upto 1 meter making it one of the popular animals with long tails. Males and females appear different in coloration where males tend to be orange-red in coloring while females are often blue-grey. They prefer to thrive in wooded or open plains and are hence found throughout the semi-arid and arid regions of mainland Australia. The verge lifespan of the red kangaroo is upto 8 years in the wild and up to 25 years in captivity.
Image Source: Wikimedia
6. Rink-tailed lemur
The Rink-tailed lemur is a small primate species that belongs to the Lemuridae family and is one of the popular animals with stripes. They are the most terrestrial of all lemurs and spend most of their time on land rather than trees. They can be recognized very easily with you the help of extremely long, heavily furred tails, covered with black and white rings, allowing the animal to take long leaps when moving between trees. They are social creatures forming female-dominated units between 3 to 20 individuals.
7. Leopard Whipray
The Leopard Whipray is a large stingray that can reach upto 13.5 feet in length including its tail and will grow about 4.5 feet (1.4 m) in width. The tail is upto 3 times of body length and tapers to a fine point with a single spine (or barb). The juvenile species have gray to brown coloration with larger black spots. The diet consists of crabs, shrimp, and shelled invertebrates. It is mostly seen in Indo-West Pacific. It is also known as Bleeker’s variegated whip ray and is often mistaken for other similar species, such as Himantura fava and Himantura uarnak. The avarage lifespan of a leopard whip ray is between 15 to 25 years.
Image Source: Wikipedia
8. Long-taled grass lizard
The long-tailed grass lizard is known by different names such as Asian grass lizard, six-striped long-tailed grass lizard, or long-tailed grass lizard, and is a diurnal species of lizard. The tail length is three times the body length from snout to vent. Both males and females look similar, however, males can be differentiated by the presence of pre-anal pores.
The body length can grow up to 12 cm (4.7 in) snout-to-vent length and this species of lizard is often kept as a pet. They are seen in South East Asia and are native to a number of countries including India, China, Thailand, and Indonesia. The diet consists of small insects such as flies, In captivity they can be reared on crickets, and like other small lizards may require a calcium substitute. The avarage lifespan of a long-tailed grass lizard is upto 5 years.
Image Source: Wikimedia
9. Howler Monkey
Howler monkeys are among the largest New World monkeys and a member of the Alouatta genus. The body length of monkey species is between 40 to 53 cm in length and the average weight is between 4 to 10 kg. It is distributed across the areas of South America such as Paraguay, southern Brazil, eastern Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Uruguay. The primary diet consists of leaves, fruits, buds, and flowers. The average lifespan of a howler monkey is between 15 to 20n years.
10. Ribbon-tailed Asrapia
The ribbon-tailed astrapia is one of the birds with long tails also known as Shaw Mayer’s Australia and is a species of bird of paradise. It is widely distributed and endemic to subalpine forests in the western part of the central highlands of Papua New Guinea. The medium size bird species can grow upto 32 cm long without a tail and tail length can be over 1 meter. The diet consists of primarily Fruits, especially from Umbrella Tree along with insects, spiders, and frogs. The avarage lifespan of ribbon-tailed Asrapia is between 5 to 8 years.
Image Source: anuradhac
These are the list of animals with long tails. Kindly share and do post your comments.
