My cat’s tail is more expressive than anything she could say in words—if she used words. But why waste language when you can silently signal your moods and needs with an elegant plume of fur?
If you live with a cat, you figure out pretty quickly that high is happy; low is not. And when Rosie sits on the windowsill with her tail whipping back and forth, I know a robin has hopped into view.
Encountering a strange cat outdoors, Rosie puffs up her skinny gray tail into a huge bushy warning. How does she do that? She’s not telling.
Cats aren’t the only ones, of course. Squirrels also have marvelous, multipurpose tails--useful as blankets, umbrellas and sunshades. Not to mention balance! The way those rodents skim across power lines and leap from branches with astonishing precision.
So here’s what I’ve concluded. We humans made a wrong turn on the evolutionary path when we abandoned our tails. Oh, to have such an gorgeous, wordless way to communicate! To maintain perfect equilibrium!
It would take some wardrobe adjustments, to be sure, but think of the fashion possibilities and grooming products! In my next life, I want to have a tail.