THE PACK Message Boards

Tail- yes, it's a must! It's length could easily be based on the size of the body, using real lupines/canids as a model. As for the human form hiding it in thier pants leg, think of where it exits and follows the spinal column down thru the pelvis. Even if it loses it's fur, a inch diameter tail going across the butt and down the pants leg would be noticable to anyone around.
Wear a tail for a couple of hours and you'll understand just how impossible it would be to hide :shock:

Sporty Fox wrote:Tail- yes, it's a must! It's length could easily be based on the size of the body, using real lupines/canids as a model. As for the human form hiding it in thier pants leg, think of where it exits and follows the spinal column down thru the pelvis. Even if it loses it's fur, a inch diameter tail going across the butt and down the pants leg would be noticable to anyone around.
Wear a tail for a couple of hours and you'll understand just how impossible it would be to hide :shock:

I understand...
Imagine how it would feel if you were wearing tight jeans all the while!

If you want your werewolves to be different,that Tails are a must.
so yes yes yes yes and yes.

I voted "It's a must," because wolves have tails and humans have tailbones.

I agree a tail would be a great touch, but the length and bushiness depends on whether the biped or quadreped form is the "norm" also, my thought is that if the muzzle and such can retract/disappear, then why can't the tail? one is an extension of the jaw and face while the other an extension of the back and spine.

perhaps the tail merges with one of the legs when returning to human form.

I think that, when reveting, the tail would lose its fur and shrink until its completely gone.

Silverclaw wrote:I think that, when reveting, the tail would lose its fur and shrink until its completely gone.

Exactly.

of corse werewolfs should have tails, its really a must because with one they look really really bad

I know I will probobly be knocked into a coma by the rain of stones and rubber duckies that will be thrown at me for saying this, but...

...even though I would prefer to see the werewolves with tails, (mostly because of the way it would complete the aesthetic appearance of the Man-Wolf hybrid), the logical side of my brain insists that a tail really would not make sense.

If the creature/character has a primarily vertical, bi-pedal stance, the "balance" argument no longer holds any bearing, as that posture negates the usefullness of the fifth appendage.

That ,(I think. ...I will not claim it to be the "truth" this time, as I am often wrong in my assumptions), is likely the reason why humans don't have tails (...anymore). The troubles involved in trying to validate it's presence, as well as trying to figure out where it comes from when they shift or where it goes when they shift back almost seems...unnecesary. It would make things so much simpler to follow the example of Werewolves past and leave it out.

*Sees a cloud of shiny stones and yellow duckies soaring through the air at him from afar like an approaching storm and quickly turns to run*

Vuldari wrote:
*Sees a cloud of shiny stones and yellow duckies soaring through the air at him from afar like an approaching storm and quickly turns to run*

Except this time its not rubber duckies. These are real duckies with sharp fangs!!

Figarou wrote:Except this time its not rubber duckies. These are real duckies with sharp fangs!!

*Throws his two rubber duckies at them to distract the flesh-eating duckies and jumps into a nearby pond to hide*

(Thinks to himself)..."Wait...duckies can swim!..." "AAAAAAAaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!....*gurgle*..."

"*quack, quack, quack, Hisssssssssss....*"


...

longer than proportional, but only slightly so. No tail=stupid. we actually do have the bones for tails, just all on oce piece and not visible. You can hurt your tailbone, you know.

Humans have plantigrade feet, the tail bone we have is suffcient for use to remain stable, now for a werewolf with digitgrade legs, a tail would be needed as a counter-balance.

Otherwise every decent hit is gonna send knock him on his furry a**.

Aki wrote:Humans have plantigrade feet, the tail bone we have is suffcient for use to remain stable, now for a werewolf with digitgrade legs, a tail would be needed as a counter-balance.

Otherwise every decent hit is gonna send knock him on his furry a**.

So, the tail is used for "counter-balance." How big and heavy does the tail need to be for that purpose?

Aki wrote:Humans have plantigrade feet, the tail bone we have is suffcient for use to remain stable, now for a werewolf with digitgrade legs, a tail would be needed as a counter-balance.

Otherwise every decent hit is gonna send knock him on his furry a**.

The digitgrade feet and legs force the Werewolf to lean forward to ramain balanced, as they don't have a heel to rest back on. Adding a Tail to the backside would make them even more Back heavy...forcing them to lean forward even more. ...or am I missing something? (I probobly am...I always seem to make the wrong assumptions.)

Vuldari wrote:

Aki wrote:Humans have plantigrade feet, the tail bone we have is suffcient for use to remain stable, now for a werewolf with digitgrade legs, a tail would be needed as a counter-balance.

Otherwise every decent hit is gonna send knock him on his furry a**.

The digitgrade feet and legs force the Werewolf to lean forward to ramain balanced, as they don't have a heel to rest back on. Adding a Tail to the backside would make them even more Back heavy...forcing them to lean forward even more. ...or am I missing something? (I probobly am...I always seem to make the wrong assumptions.)

Having to lean forward is a downside, as like i said, if you get hit, your going to have a harder time keeping balance than someone with plantigrade feet. But good point.

Something being there don't always follow the rules of being useful. Sometimes its simply there for decoration, the tail could simply be there for the sake of being because it may be seen as attractive to other Werewolves or something.

Aki wrote:Something being there don't always follow the rules of being useful. Sometimes its simply there for decoration, the tail could simply be there for the sake of being because it may be seen as attractive to other Werewolves or something.

Works for me...

...I just had say something. Once I get an idea in my mind, I can't let it go untill I do something with it.
(...otherwise my brain will explode...)

Since we are talking about ducks, look at a T-rex, it has a longer tail to balance out the large skull and muscular body of the front, dinos with smaller build toward the front have slimmer tails. Now onto the bird part, a bird like a raven would fall forward with no tail. Flightless birds like DUCKS, chickens, and ostriches use larger posteriers for balance . Humans have shrunken tail bones and some humans are still born with a tail . Humans when they get larger in the chest and stomach tend to get the larger posterier whether it's muscle or fat. An animal with wolf-like feet will need a tail for balance, the size and weight of it will depend on how much weight is on the top. That will be reflected in how large boned it is, the size of the skull, and the amount of muscle. Any good artist will know all of this as I'm sure the one working on the film does.

A werewolf should walk a little bent over with the tail for support, that position will also allow him to run on all fours even in werewolf form. They can stand upright but it would take concious effort.

I know the cheetah uses the tail to keep its balance when running at high speeds. Could it be the same reason for the wolf when they run?


Humans can balance themselves without the use of a tail. All we need to do is shift our body weight. Try it for yourself. Walk on a 2X4. Or something simular. Notice that your shifting body weight to stay on the 2X4?

Now imagine having a tail. How would it keep you on the 2X4 without using your body weight for balance?

I'm not saying these werewolves don't need tails. I'm saying its not used for balance for standing on 2 legs. Whether its plantigrade or digitigrade.

Most people would need training to balance well, the average guy off the street probably couldn't balance that well. Humans have adapted to life without a tail , which might not be a good thing from what I've read. Humans have a lot of back problems resulting from an upright walking stance. One expert said it best : An upright walking stance isn't that great of an evoloutionary achievement, the stance makes it difficult to balance and causes a lot of stress on our bodies, humans are always one step from disaster.

A werewolf would have an even hard time considering the increased muscle and bone not to mention an oversized wolf like skull. Without counterbalnce he would be constantly stressing his back to remain upright. As further proof most werewolf legends support a hunched over werewolf image.

Blade-of-the-Moon wrote:Most people would need training to balance well, the average guy off the street probably couldn't balance that well. Humans have adapted to life without a tail , which might not be a good thing from what I've read. Humans have a lot of back problems resulting from an upright walking stance. One expert said it best : An upright walking stance isn't that great of an evoloutionary achievement, the stance makes it difficult to balance and causes a lot of stress on our bodies, humans are always one step from disaster.

A werewolf would have an even hard time considering the increased muscle and bone not to mention an oversized wolf like skull. Without counterbalnce he would be constantly stressing his back to remain upright. As further proof most werewolf legends support a hunched over werewolf image.

If a tail can cure the back problem, then slap one on me baby!!

Figarou wrote:

Blade-of-the-Moon wrote:Most people would need training to balance well, the average guy off the street probably couldn't balance that well. Humans have adapted to life without a tail , which might not be a good thing from what I've read. Humans have a lot of back problems resulting from an upright walking stance. One expert said it best : An upright walking stance isn't that great of an evoloutionary achievement, the stance makes it difficult to balance and causes a lot of stress on our bodies, humans are always one step from disaster.

A werewolf would have an even hard time considering the increased muscle and bone not to mention an oversized wolf like skull. Without counterbalnce he would be constantly stressing his back to remain upright. As further proof most werewolf legends support a hunched over werewolf image.

If a tail can cure the back problem, then slap one on me baby!!

Judging by your avatar you already have one.....

Blade-of-the-Moon wrote:
Judging by your avatar you already have one.....

I do?


So thats what I was chasing all this time!!

Blade-of-the-Moon wrote:Most people would need training to balance well, the average guy off the street probably couldn't balance that well. Humans have adapted to life without a tail , which might not be a good thing from what I've read. Humans have a lot of back problems resulting from an upright walking stance. One expert said it best : An upright walking stance isn't that great of an evoloutionary achievement, the stance makes it difficult to balance and causes a lot of stress on our bodies, humans are always one step from disaster.

Of course, you do must realize that the humans' taillessness is our legacy from our tailless ancestors, who apparently could move about better without tails in the trees, than with tails. Our upright stance is the legacy of when our ancient tailless ancestors went from being tree-dwellers to plains-dwellers, who in turn, found that walking on two legs is much faster than walking on knuckles.
You do must realize that we humans, and our immediate ancestors, have had at least 2 million + years of practice with walking on two legs, and that, it is true that supporting 100+ lbs of weight, coupled with the stress of walking around on two legs can cause back problems, I hardly think that the overexaggeration of one anthropologist should be cause to go back to walking on all fours, especially since the human body is not designed to walk on all fours.
Furthermore, a tail would be of little help in balancing in humans, as almost all other animals which are bipedal and have tails, ie, birds, kangaroos, and some dinosaurs, hold their bodies parallel to the ground, whereas in humans, the body is held perpendicular to the ground. A bipedal body that's held parallel to the ground can benefit from a tail, as the tail can act as a counterbalance to prevent the body from falling forward. I don't see how a tail would be able to help a bipedal animal that holds its body perpendicular to the ground.

Whether or not a werewolf would use it's tail for balance is debatable, but they should have one.... they just don't look right without a tail...