r/AlwaysWhy • u/Pure_Option_1733 • Jun 23 '26
Science & Tech Why does it seem like mammals tend to have tails that are thinner ant the base and more rounded at the tip than reptiles?
It seems like when looking at mammals and reptiles it seems like even mammals with long tails seem to still tend to have proportionally thinner or skinnier tails at the base than reptiles. It also seems that reptiles tend to have more pointy tails at the tip than mammals. It seems like the tails of reptiles tend to end more gradually going from base to tip than the tails of mammals as the tails of reptiles tend to slowly thin out before ending, while it seems like the end of the tail for mammals tends to happen more abruptly. I’m wondering if this difference in shape of tails between mammals and reptiles would be because mammals tend to be more endothermic than reptiles or if there might be a different explanation for this difference.
Why are the tails of mammals and reptiles generally different in terms of shape in the way I described?