Everything about Prehensility totally explained
Prehensility is the quality of an
organ that has
adapted for grasping or holding. Examples of prehensile body parts include the
tails of
New World monkeys and
opossums, the trunks of
elephants, the tongues of
giraffes, the lips of
horses and the
proboscides of
tapir. The hands of
primates are all prehensile to varying degrees, and many species (even a few
humans) have
prehensile feet as well. The
claws of
cats are also prehensile. Many extant lizards have prehensile tails (geckos, chameleons, and a species of skink). The fossil record shows prehensile tails in lizards (Simiosauria) going back many million years to the Triassic period - Celeskey (2005).
Prehensility is an evolutionary adaptation that has afforded species a great natural advantage in manipulating their environment for feeding, digging, and defense. It enables many animals, such as primates, to use tools in order to complete tasks that would otherwise be impossible without highly specialized anatomy. For example,
chimpanzees have the ability to use sticks to fish for
termites and grubs. However, not all prehensile organs are applied to tool use- the giraffe tongue, for instance, is instead used in feeding and self-cleaning behaviors.
The word is derived from the
Latin term
prehendere, meaning "to grasp."
Further Information
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