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Which animal has the longest tail?

BBC Wildlife

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June 2025

STRICTLY SPEAKING, THE TAIL-LIKE structures found in everything from scorpions to mayflies are not true tails. Only vertebrates – animals with a spine – are genuine tail-owners. And among vertebrates, tails are really common.

- Ben Hoare

Which animal has the longest tail?

In fact, we humans usually develop one too, then lose it while still an embryo. All that’s left is the tail bone, or coccyx, at the end of our spine.

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