A
prehensile tail is the tail of an animal that has
adapted to be able to grasp or hold objects. Fully
prehensile tails can be used to hold and manipulate objects, and in particular to aid arboreal creatures in finding and eating food in the trees. If the tail cannot be used for this it is considered only partially prehensile - such tails are often used to anchor an animal's body to dangle from a
branch, or as an aid for climbing. The term
prehensile means "able to grasp" (from the Latin
prehendere, to take hold of, to grasp).