Dogs’ tails play little or no role in acrobatic manoeuvres, and are more likely a communication tool, researchers say
With dogs more inclined to stay on the ground, scientists were unclear whether the animals’ tails helped with agile movements or primarily served as waggable communication devices, and/or to fend off unwanted visitors such as flies.
To learn more, Dr Ardian Jusufi – who studies animal locomotion at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart – and his colleagues built a mathematical model that allowed them to check what happens when dogs twist and turn their torsos, and move their legs and tails, when they bound into the air.titled: “Tail wags the dog is unsupported by biomechanical modelling of Canidae tails use during terrestrial motion.
The finding suggests that tails are not as critical for agile movements in dogs as they are for other animals. Moving the tail mid-jump, the researchers found, changed the dog’s trajectory by a mere fraction of a degree. Across the dog family, “It appears the inertial impacts that tail movement has on complex manoeuvres such as jumping, have little to no effect,” the authors write. “The utilising of the tail during jumping … achieves very low amounts of centre of mass movement across all species with the largest being under a single degree.”
“We believe that this implies that dogs utilise their tails for other means, such as communication and pest control, but not for agility in manoeuvres,” they add.Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morningNewsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our
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