Are there any vertebrates, other than humans, that do not have tails?

Question

My son asked me why people don't have tails, and it made me wonder where the tail went away in the evolutionary scheme, and if there is anything else that doesn't have a tail.

Answer 1

It went away because of failed use. Humans became too large and disproportioned to use a tail anymore, so it was just a waste of energy to produce it. Mutation after mutation that made shorter tails were selected, until it went away completely. But, for a bit of fun, you could tell your son that we do have tails! As embryos. But as we develop, they quickly disappear--even though we keep a bit of our tail bone.

Anyway, a vertebrate that DOESN'T have a tail... Some frogs and toads don't (as adults)--depends on the species. I know this is popular in the Amazon, since most tree frogs have no use for a tail. Most people think of the cute and fuzzy right away, but amphibians are a good group of animals that sometimes don't have tails. I also think some rodents are without tails--I think especially some species native to Australia.

Answer 2

"It went away because of failed use"

why do we sill have a apenidx and tonsills? they cause infection and sore throats?

mabe humans are like computers they have software that is useless and expires and takes up space

Answer 3

All apes lack tales, humans, chimps, gorillas, orangutans, and the gibbon.

Some monkeys independently lost their tails, ex. the Barbary Ape (not really an ape).

Answer 4

Well there are all the great apes, maybe one monkey species, and several non-mammalian vertebrate species that don't have tails.

As far as to why, it could be random mutations (genetic drift, even), lack of selective pressure for a tail, or maybe even good old sexual selection.

Even our DNA is riddled with "Introns", also called intragenic regions or intervening sequences, that are non-coding sections of DNA. They exist scattered in between, and/or around coding sections of our DNA.

Answer 5

All apes have "lost" their tails.  Frogs and toads also don't have tails.  Those are just off the top of my head.

Answer 6

Our closest relative - the chimpanzee or orangutan and the gorilla also.. The Manx cat also has no tail. I'm sure theres others too.