In a world full of anthrophomorphic animals, furries if you will, most species would have an additional appendages to humans: a tail. These tails can probably be used for ergonomics.

I was inspired to make this post when I remembered a picture of an otter with a tail bag- a bag attached to his tail- from reddit long ago.

I was thinking that many anthros would probably do the same thing or find other uses with their tail. Maybe they can use their tail to control stuff or operate vehicles, to show their emotions, or even as a third hand. But if their world was built around these uses for tails, how would they accomodate for different shapes of tails and species that lack one? Some tails are more flexible, others larger, others thin and small, and others are so small they barely exist (like the tail of a bear).

Their tails would also be used for aesthetic purposes. They would probably decorate them with items similar to how humans decorate their hair with hairpins and the like. Some may even wear covering for their tail. But with every species having different tail shapes, this would mean some tail garment may have to be tailored to specific species, especially tail covering.

So, would it cause jealousy when one species wanted to wear a tail covering that’s only available to another species? Maybe Otis the Otter wanted to wear that beautiful tail covering, but it’s only made for cats and his tail is too thick to fit. Also, some animals lack tail, so they won’t be able to decorate their nonexistent tail at all. Some bears are probably jealous that their tail is too short to decorate with anything.

And finally, tail modification. Would some anthros snip their tail similar to how we do with cats? Would their people consider it body mutilation or just regular body modification like having a tattoo? Would it be treated as tradition, where in some cultures, some species (or even some gender of the species) have to cut their tail? How about tails that are too thick to snip without causing damage, like the tail of an otter?

There’s a lot of possibilities on what having a tail can entail, so there is a lot of questions. Do you have anything more to add?