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Why do almost all vertebrates have tails, but not apes and frogs?

13.06.2025 00:39

Why do almost all vertebrates have tails, but not apes and frogs?

Vertebrates are chordates and all chordates have, as part of the defining body plan of the phylum, a post anal tail.

And apes and frogs are no exception. Both still have the lost anal tail. It is just shortened and entirely hidden inside the adult body. But you can still see it in their skeletons.

And of course, frogs have a perfectly normal and prominent chordate post-anal tail as juveniles.

For those who were actually old enough to have experienced the 1970s and not for those who were born in the 70s. What were the pros and cons of that era?