Bears are some of the most ferocious yet adorable creatures you will encounter. But not much is known about them by the public, even though they are very common. For example, you may wonder whether bears have tails.
You might not know this, but bears do indeed have tails. They are not very apparent, but that’s only because they are small. The main purpose of a bear’s tail is to protect the anus from the elements during mating.
In this article, we’ll answer this question in more detail and provide important information about the purpose of a bear’s tail.
Do Bears Have Tails?
Even though we’ve all seen bears since we were kids, most of us aren’t sure if they have tails. This is because, unlike squirrels and chipmunks, they have short, tiny tails.
Roughly eight different kinds of bears exist. Bears of all kinds, including the American black bear, brown bear, polar bear, panda bear, sloth bear, Andean bear, and sun bear, have notably short, tubby tails.
Young bear cubs and bears have tails too small and thin to be seen. Bear cubs and young bears don’t grow their visible tails until they are sexually mature, at around 4–5 years, or until they reach full adulthood, at 8–10 years of age. Their tails remain nearly invisible even when fully grown. There is a special artery in a bear’s tail, as well as fat and fur.
All bear species, including the tidy ones, are known to raise their short tails when they urinate and mate.
Purpose of Bear Tails
Unlike other small animals, bears don’t use their tails for things like walking, smelling, signaling to others, receiving signals, or defending themselves.
A horse’s mental and physical status can be deduced from the position and movement of its tail, and horses also use their tails to ward off intruders such as flies and birds.
Squirrels and other rodents use their tails for various purposes, including signaling, communicating, scenting, and showing emotions.
Whether fighting or not, a kangaroo will use its tail for balance, effectively making it a third leg. When it comes to walking, fighting, and general daily life, their tails are even more crucial than their front and back legs.
Animals such as raccoons, cats, and dogs can leap across vast distances, balance on their tails, climb vertical surfaces, sprint, and even chase prey.
On the other hand, bears were once considered to have long tails, but evolution knocked them off since they weren’t useful. Bears only raise their tails when mating or defecating and shield their anus while keeping out the cold.
Why Do Bears Have Short Tails?
Understanding that bears indeed have tails; the question is why bears’ tails are so short. Bears may not have obvious tails, but they do have rather small tails. Why is this the case?
Bears are large, wild creatures that are slow, do not sprint much, and don’t use their long tails for communication, signaling, making fast turns, or balancing. Hence, it serves no purpose for them to have such a tail.
Lions (while large but not as massive as bears) rely on their long tails for balance and to signal to other lions. However, female lions also use this to signal their cubs to follow them, share information about where to hunt and express their emotions.
Foxes, too, rely on their tails for stability, as well as for communication, threat signaling, and thermal regulation.
Bears, on the other hand, only use their tails for two things: defecation and reproduction. There’s no point in a bear having a long tail if it’s not going to help them in any way, so bears have short tails.
Bears are too large to utilize their tails for balance or as a source of support, regardless of how long their tails might be.
Did Bears Have Long Tails?
Like the human jaw, the bear’s tail used to be much longer but has shortened over time because the animal rarely uses it.
To your knowledge, humans also looked very different in the past from how they do now. Their diet consisted mostly of meat and bones, so they developed a large jaw. However, as they evolved and began eating more soft foods, their jaws shrank until they reached their current extremely small size.
Bears’ size, environment, and lifestyle make it so that they do not require tails.
Bears are large and hefty; therefore, they don’t require a tail to balance themselves, and even if they did, a long tail wouldn’t help them run efficiently. A brown bear can weigh anywhere from 80 to 600 kilograms, and an American black bear can weigh anything from 60 to 300 kilograms when fully grown.
In addition to not assisting bears when swimming, climbing, walking, or conversing, tails also don’t shield them from flies, reptiles, or other small animals chasing them.
Bears stand on their hind legs because they once used head-to-head communication. In contrast to other animals, they never make use of their tails.
Bears do not require tails because they already possess all the necessary traits to survive without one. Because of this, it is also short. They carry on as if they were tailless.
Will a Bear’s Tail Ever Disappear?
Maybe. Because they don’t need them, their tails have shrunk to a vestigial size over thousands of years of evolution. Long tails aren’t necessary for either balance or communication. They don’t even show excitement by wagging their tails.
However, bears use their tails primarily to shield their privates from the elements and parasites. The tail serves a practical purpose by shielding the animal’s sensitive, non-furred areas.
Conclusion
There are many amusing facts about bears that we are unaware of. This is why it’s even better to find out more about these adorable creatures. You can then adore these animals while knowing all about them.
