Humans have many wonderful qualities, but we lack something that's a common feature among most animals with backbones: a tail. Exactly why that is has been something of a mystery. Tails are useful for ...

WASHINGTON — Our very ancient animal ancestors had tails. Why don’t we? Somewhere around 20 million or 25 million years ago, when apes diverged from monkeys, our branch of the tree of life shed tails.

Dogs use their tails to communicate. Eastimages/Moment via Getty Images Whether they belong to reptiles, insects, birds or mammals, tails serve a wide variety of purposes. Modern animals use their ...

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. As these fish evolved into creatures that lived ...