Fish use theirs for forward motion:
swishing, swooshing through the ocean.
Monkeys swing and swoop through trees,
long, strong tails make this a breeze.
Squirrels use theirs as a shade:
sun-umbrella? Ready-made!
Flitter, flutter, birds take flight,
feathered tails steer left, then right.
Warning! Warning! Look, a stranger!
Deer use theirs to signal danger.
Geckos leave their tails behind,
for predators to stop and find.
Peacocks’ tails make fine displays,
to catch a passing peahen’s gaze.
And elephants keep bites at bay,
by tail-swatting the mites away.
In wiggly-waggly joyful motion,
dogs use theirs to show emotion.
Cats use theirs for confidence,
when balanced on a wobbly fence.
Kangaroos ba-boing with glee,
their tails provide leg number three!
And scorpions will never fail,
when they’ve a sharp sting in their tail.
So, let’s sum-up and draw conclusion,
just in case there’s still confusion.
Being super-duper clear:
a tail is SPLENDID at the rear!
Sue Lancaster is a children’s writer living in South West London with her husband and two daughters. Before having kids, she worked in TV as a Production Manager and got her degree in Media Studies at the University of East London. Sue grew up in Clacton on the coast of Essex and spent much of her childhood in or beside the sea, playing with her three cats, or being tormented by her two older brothers. Sue has always enjoyed writing and when she was young, she wrote lots of poetry and even won a few competitions!