How Come.........A Opossum has no Hair on it's Tail?

There actually is a Sound Zoological Reason.

First Correct Answer gets a Cookie and a Glass of Milk......

However, You have to Dig it out of the Garbage Can out Back at 3:00 AM as Loudly as Possible and Disturb the Dog while Doing it while Throwing as much Trash around the Yard as Possible!

Kurt

How Come.........A Opossum has no Hair on it's Tail?

Actually, the "correct" answer you posted is NOT CORRECT!

Easiest explanation is there are plenty of monkeys that have prehensile tails (often much stronger than opussums) which have plenty of fur over them.

So what's the REAL reason opussums do not have hair on their tails? Thermoregulation.

Their tail is used to help regulate their body temperature (thermoregulation). Opussums have a very low body temperature (which makes them quiet resistant to many diseases). One of the ways they maintain this very low body temperature is all the heat loss via their hairless tail. With all the blood vessels and lack of hair, it's a simply excelent way for the opposum to keep their body cool. Their average body temperature is 95 degrees.

So sorry, you had the answer WRONG. Might want to correct yourself!

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Active wildlife study over 40 years

"Amateurish Person," huh? That kind of amusing...the first time I've been called that in fact.

My Mother use to work at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. I grew up around all kinds of wildlife, and with all kinds of wildlife professionals. I learned simply by being around all kinds of people who were leading in the field of animals studies.

When I grew up and went off to college at Central Washington University, I was simply facinated in Biology class. I already knew more in some area of biology than the Prof. did, but I still learned a great deal from her.

She and I actually became good friends, and I did a lot of extra carricular studies with her. It was a great deal of fun to have access to some of the areas of the college the students do not normally have access to. Not so much fun to go near the chimpanzees though...nasty creatures, who fling poo, spit, and fling food (those would be the famous sign language chimps). Anyway, one of the projects I did with the Prof was actually disecting a lab rats tail (many, many lab rats at the college), and a road kill opossums tail we managed to locate (more skunks in Eastern WA, so road kill opossums are harder to come by). Other than the prehensile muscles, their circulatory system in their tail is almost identical to a rats. Rats are of course designed to keep cool via their tails.

Here's a link to some rather graphic picture of a tail disection of an opossum:

http://www.baa.duke.edu/companat/BAA_289...

Quiet facinating, and if you know what you're looking at in the anatomy, you can tell how their tail helps keep them cool. More facinating it to have a rat and opossum tail side by side.

Of course even more fun and interesting was being able to compare the tiny opossum foot with it's oposable thumb to a human cadaver hand (I was unfortunatly not allowed to do anything with the human cadaver hand since it was too valuable to the medical students, but I was shown how it all worked).

I have never stopped learning and seeking knowledge, often on odd animal topics. To this day, I usually read at least a book a day, in my quest for knowledge. Instead of calling me "Amateurish," I instead sugest you seek out the wonderful oprotunities I've had in my life to gain some really amazing insightes into the natural world.

I stand by my answer, because it IS correct.

That you Jeff for what you said. I'll even agree with you that people latch onto their ideas, and theories.

I do however still stand by the fact that the MAIN reason an opossums tail is hairless is because their tail is a big part of their cooling system. Evolution favored the opossum with the lower body temperature, making them very disease resistant.

Having no hair on the UNDERSIDE of the tail is also a gripping advantage for prehensile animals. It does not explain why the rest of the tail is bare however (because of their cooling system).

Yet another evolutionary advantage to having a hairless tail is the lack of parasites that can attach themselves and cause the animal missery or illness. No fleas, no ticks on an opossums tail.

Yet a fourth reason is because the opossum is an omnivore. Omnivore animals have a much greater range of foods they eat (making them more sucessful in evolution). However having to try out this wide range of foods means you can have a few problems when eating something that does not agree with you. Diahrea, of course. Having a nearly hairless tail would make it ever so much easier to keep clean, and would also keep it from becoming "glued" to the animals butt if they got quiet ill. Evolution would favor this.

If anyone has ever seen a sheep with an undocked tail that got diahrea, it's tail became "glued" to it's rump, and was now dying of fly strike and massive rotten flesh in the rear end would know exactly what I'm talking about (see it in calves too, very sad).

So really there is a whole neat range of reasons the opossum does not have (much) hair on it's tail. The main reason though is that cooling system, which makes them much less prone to diseases other animals contract.

How Come.........A Opossum has no Hair on it's Tail?

An Opossum. And it's probably because it's scales, not skin.

How Come.........A Opossum has no Hair on it's Tail?

So he can beat someone silly!

How Come.........A Opossum has no Hair on it's Tail?

and that would make it better to hang upside down on a tree limb !!!!

How Come.........A Opossum has no Hair on it's Tail?

sorry but opossums actually do have hair on their tails.

its not like hair all over their body but its bristley hairs that are clearish in color

yes they have prehensile tails but the adults cant really support their weight by hanging on them. they weigh too much.

however they can carry materials with their tails

How Come.........A Opossum has no Hair on it's Tail?

Yes but it could have hair on top and sides like the new world monkeys or several australian and Papua New Guenea marsupials that have prehensile tails as well (yes there are marsupials there too).

On the other hand the animals with prehensile tails do not have hair on the undersides.

Sorry just thought I would throw a fly in the ointment (LOL)

Real reason? No one really knows for sure. There is a theory it is thermoregulation. Possibly, however, this seems extreme since opossums usually move around at night in cooler temps and frequently come out in winter (Anyone ever seeing dozens work their way out of the insides of a frozen cow carcass in January know this for a fact).

Bohemian girl may be correct. She certainly does know her wildlife and I would not call her 'amateurish', I would rate her knowledge of wildlife in the top twenty or perhaps even the top ten of the current contributors here. However many biologists (even the best of us) like to give more credit to their personal beliefs and ideas than actually due.

In actuallity the hairless tail is probably an adaptation for both purposes not one or the other.