TAILS THAT WARN

      Some mammals in southeastern Pennsylvania, including white-tailed deer, cottontail rabbits, beavers and gray squirrels, have tails that warn others of their respective species of potential danger.  Those tails are obvious when needed, and invisible when not needed to communicate danger, which helps hides each kind of mammal from predators.

     Each deer has a furry tail that is over a foot long and dark on top.  But the under-tail is white.  When a deer senses danger, it snorts a warning, stamps a front leg and raises its tail like a white banner.  Then the deer might run for cover, waving its obvious, white banner from side to side, as it heads for shelter.  And when the deer reaches cover, it drops its tail, which covers the white hairs, and the deer mysteriously disappears, much to the confusion of a persuing coyote, wolf, dog or mountain lion. 

     Cottontail rabbits also have white under their tails.  Those white hairs are invisible when the rabbit is sitting, camouflaged, among thick vegetation.  But if a predator gets too close, the rabbit takes off in a sprint to another shelter, its white under-tail bobbing along to keep the predator's attention, and serve as a warning to other rabbits to zip to cover.  When the rabbit suddenly stops among densely-growing plants, the white under-tail suddenly disappears and the rabbit is camouflaged in its hiding place.  Again the predator could be confused and gives up the chase.

     Beavers use their large, flat tails to slap the surface of water to warn others of their kind that danger is near.  When hearing that loud, explosive slap on a pond, all nearby beavers dive under water, or dash for cover on land.      

     Gray squirrels vocalize sharply and repeatedly wave their long, gray, hairy tails in an agitated way to warn others of their kind of danger nearby.  That waving is an obvious sign that something is amiss.

      These local mammals have tails that communicate potential danger to others of each creature's kind.  Those tails are obvious and the message is always clear- run or hide!        

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