
What's the Use of a Horse's Tail? - extraterra
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/whats-the-use-of-a-horses-tail/
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reitanqild
Well. I had to read the entire article to see if I was missing something, but
my answer is no.

The answer to the question as presented in the headline is more or less
obvious for everyone who spent significant time around horses and cows: it
keeps insects away. (It might also tell you something about the mood of a
horse, less so with cows IMO. Small calves and lambs however will wiggle their
tail when drinking milk, either because of some kind of enthusiasm or I've
also heard to make sure their mother can smell that they are hers. Sidenote:
IIRC lambs who try to steal milk will typically position themselves with the
tail away from the head of the eve they are stealing from while lambs that are
with their own mother will typically stand parallel to their mother, possibly
so she can verify them.)

Then there is the question about the pendulum speed, why do horses swing their
tails so much faster.

Well a simpler explanation might be because: 1. Tails arent ideal pendulums
and 2.) To get enough speed to cover the top of their backs.

I'm no lawyer or startup founder or cryptographer so often I cannot point out
if an article is wrong but I did grow up an a farm and I've earned my first
money as a farm hand until I was about 20 and I also have some months in
farming school so today it feels like I had something to share :-P

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dragosmocrii
My opinion: long mammals like cows, horses, camels, etc can't reach their
behinds with their limbs. They can use their head (especially when the tail
doesn't reach the fronter part of the behind), but it's not efficient because
their head is heavy (and they're heavy animals in general) and has more
inertia. Therefore, a tail is their swift efficient defense for the behind.

By contrast, smaller mammals like cats, dogs, rats, etc, don't use their tails
to deter insect, because they can easily jump, move quickly, or smash their
head into their body, because they are much lighter.

Now, this makes me wonder, why do cats and dogs have tails. Maybe im the case
of cats it is for equilibrium, but dogs? I think dogs use tails to show people
when they're excited :)

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krona
Look at what the cat's tail does when it leaps through the air, or the dogs
tail when turning a corner at high speed, and it will become clear. It's for
balance and agility.

Greyhounds and Cheetahs naturally have fairly long tails.

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lovemenot
Can we call a greyhound's tail _natural_ , if it has been bred for purpose by
people?

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wil421
Can you call any domesticated animal natural?

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headShrinker
It’s a legitimate question but it's a slippery slope. A wild horse can be
domesticated, is it natural? Donkeys, and camels too, even birds like parrots
and raptors can be trained to do work and be subservient to humans.

If the question is learned behavioral domestication vs bred genetic
domestication... Is a banana natural? Apples oranges grains, virtually every
verity of produce at the store has been ’domesticated’. Are they natural?

Humans have been bred for group behavior, language and manual (slave) labor by
means of evolutionary pressure and natural selection. Are we unnatural?

Pretty sure ‘natural’ is not the delineation we want to use

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cobbzilla
Do not conflate taming/training (of an individual) with domestication (of a
species). Very different things.

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tomcam
String players probably have a strong opinion on this ;)

Seriously, AFAIK there is no artificial solution for bow strings. The only
good material for them is carefully selected tail hair from horses in places
with cold climates, like Mongolia.

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Alex3917
> The only good material for them is carefully selected tail hair from horses
> in places with cold climates, like Mongolia.

Do string players usually try drinking horse blood mixed with fermented horse
milk? I only played trumpet, so no idea what’s normal for orchestra culture.

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crististm
Hey man, are you having a good day?

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Alex3917
No I mean that's actually a traditional Mongolian food.[1] I'm saying if you
have such a deep relationship with these Mongolian horses (via the bow
strings) to the point where they're responsible for how you make your
art/living, it wouldn't surprise me if some percentage of string players
eventually wanted to go over there and learn more about Mongolia and how these
horses live in their native habitat. (And/or just try drinking fermented horse
milk at parties or whatever.)

It's not really any different than how most people who are ethnically
Norwegian or Swedish are probably eventually going to try lutefisk, not
because they expect it to be good but just because it gives context to their
identity or whatever.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_culture_in_Mongolia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_culture_in_Mongolia)

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PhantomGremlin
No cows in zoos. So the biologists didn't study them.

Because of cow patties, there are always lots of flies in cow pastures.

Anyone who has been in a cow pasture in summer would easily notice that cows
use their tails the same way as horses do: to chase away flies.

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then
I use a horse hair hygrometer:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrometer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrometer)

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TrueGeek
tl;dr: “Our work shows that a horse’s tail isn’t just an ornament. It’s their
main line of defense against biting insects”

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hanniabu
That's interesting considering it can really only swat away insects around
it's behind and is useless for the rest of the body.

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utopcell
According to the article, the goal is not to hit any insect with the tail but
rather to create an air wave that is impossible for insects to navigate.

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reitanqild
Based on my of observations of cows while working around them another (or IMO
rather, _the_ ) primary goal seemed to be to swipe or scare away flies and
horse-flies that have already landed.

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barronli
At least some animals use their tails to balance when running fast.

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qrbLPHiKpiux
Balance?

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chocknog
Its so that you can bite on it to make it go faster.

