If it wasn't for their tails, kangaroos would probably not have walked

According to a study by the University of New South Wales, the kangaroo uses its long tail when walking as if it were an extra leg. Calm down, let's explain. The study found that animals use their tails more than their front paws when walking. The results fostered new insights into how kangaroos move, which may also yield future applications in advanced robots.

Professor Terry Dawson and his colleagues had already demonstrated that the weight of the kangaroo's tail acts as a counterweight at the time of the leaps, as if it were a spring to store energy for the next leaps. In the study, the researchers were keen to find out how kangaroos walk, especially when they use the tail like a leg, something known as a pentapedal tail walk .

Dragging the tail back and forth

This unusual way of walking is characterized by the fact that the animal always has three points fixed on the ground, one of them must be the tail and the other two the hind or front paws. However, according to Dawson's studies, kangaroos get more tired walking this way than simply jumping around on the floor.

Earlier studies claimed that kangaroos used tails only to keep their bodies erect while their paws or legs propelled their bodies, while for Dawson they apparently played a more important role, as if they were propellers of these walks (which proved true in researches). To see kangaroos walking with the help of their tails, watch the videos below: