Animal Diaries Archive

Getting to the BOTTOM of it!

21 September 2007

I know what you're thinking! The songs are probably going through your mind as you read... fat bottom girls... I like big butts... let me see you shake a tail feather. Well let me tell you - butts are no joking matter. And I don't intend for this article to be the butt of any jokes. Well not intentionally anyway. You see, in the animal world, butts, bottoms, backsides, behinds, tails and the likes are deadly serious. In fact in many cases, they are critical to an animal's survival. Let me explain.

The cut, curvaceous bottom you see depicted on Minibus, one of our beautiful Common Wombats is in fact a killer butt. Yes, I know that many of you would agree this is a great butt, but that's not what I'm talking about. The Wombat has an incredibly hard cartridge plate which spans its back from the hips down. Not only does this plate protect the valuable cargo of a developing joey in the pouch underneath the female Wombat, it can also serve as a door to its underground burrow. This area has very few nerve endings and this coupled with the hard plate, makes it extremely difficult for a predator to get a grip of the wombat and drag it from its burrow. But getting back to the killer butt. The often mistakenly thought slowness of the Wombat is put to the test if a predator manages to get over the Wombat's bottom. The Wombat will lower its bottom to the ground and with such lightning speed you would miss the action if you blinked, will thrust it's backside up towards the top of the burrow in an effort to immobilize its predator. Wombats have been known to crush the skull of medium sized carnivores with the pressure applied from such a butt slam, as well as suffocate an animal the size of a dog by holding its head between its bottom and the top of the burrow roof. Now that's what I call a killer butt!!

However, it's not only the Wombat that has a valuable little asset in its bottom. Let me give you some examples:-

The Koala, the Wombat's distant, but closest living relative has a similar cartilage plate, which also has very few nerve endings, therefore desensitizing the area. This acts like a built in recliner, ensuring that the Koala does not suffer the effects of a numb bottom from the 20 odd hours of stationery tree sitting that it does each day.

The Eastern Blue Tongue Lizard has a long, tapered tail. Like many Skinks, the small back yard garden variety probably being the easily recognizable, the Blue Tongue is able to 'throw' it's tail if threatened. The muscles along the length of the tail from the tip to just below the back legs are loosely knitted from a molecular perspective. Simply put - this means that if sufficient pressure is applied to the tail, the lizard is able to release the bottom most part of its tail. The body is designed to then quickly cut off the blood supply to the tail where it dislodges from. Mother Nature in her constant wisdom then goes one step further to ensure these little guys have the best possible chance of survival. The nerve endings in the released portion of the tail will continue to move in response to the release, acting as a decoy for the attacking animal. While the predator is potentially occupied with the moving tail end, the lizard has the opportunity to move safely away from danger and certain death.

The Shingle Back Lizard on the other hand has a tail that looks remarkably like its head. Now that's enough butt head jokes. When will you people learn? Unfortunately the poor old Shingle Back Lizard has not been graced with speed. Its body is long and large, with a great span between 2 sets of short legs. So this is where the oddly head like looking tail comes in handy. Many predators will attack the head in order to kill an animal quickly. By having a tail that looks a little like it's head, the Shingle Back increases its chances of surviving. It has a 50/50 chance of its predator attacking its tail rather than its head. The point to this you ask? Well like the Eastern Blue Tongue Lizard, the Shingle Back Lizard, also a part of the Skink family is able to release or throw the bottom half of its tail when under attack. Like the Blue Tongue Lizard, this gives the Shingle Back a chance to move away from its predator and hopefully live to see another day.

Question. Have you ever wondered why the Willy Wag Tail wags his tail so eloquently and with such persistence? It's all in the name of love, of course. The male with the ability to shake his tail feathers most effectively wins the heart of the female Willy Wag Tail. His prowess at wagging his tail during the courting dance not only lets the female know that he is truly committed to the cause of securing her as a mate, but also demonstrates his proficiency as a potential protector of both her and their future young. Once the courting is over and the serious business of raising a family begins, the male will use the technique of wagging his tail as a decoy to detract any attention away from his nearby mate. Love and chivalry is alive and well in the animal kingdom and with some thanks to a cute little backside.

So you see... bottoms, butt, backsides, behinds, tails and the like are not always as they seem. So next time you ponder the beauty of one of our amazing native or exotic animals, take the time to check out their bottom, however obvious or unobvious it may seem, and see if you can recognize the secret and perhaps critical role it plays in the animal's survival. Trust me, you'll never look at a butt in the same way again!

Carol
Roving Department