Could a creature use its tail to move on land?

Question

Here is my humanoid creature. It is just 4'11 while standing on its legs, but I have not figured out how long the tail should be, other than its longer than the entire rest of its body. Most of the weight is centered in its hips and of course tail, plus a human-sized head. It has a muscular torso and legs if it ever decides to walk normally. The tail's skeleton is built like a snake's body. Would it still be able to move with this tail while keeping itself upright?

Probably. This would be similar to how an anatomically correct Naga would move. — The Square-Cube Law, Jul 09 '21 at 15:20
I think this question needs more detail. How large and heavy is this creature? How is weight distributed between the humanoid body and tail? Is the tail's skeleton and musculature similar to a snake's body, a primate's tail, or some other build? — rek, Jul 09 '21 at 15:35
I will pre-emptively argue this question is not a duplicate of How would a person who is a snake from the waist down move around? as that question starts with the assumption that this posture is possible and is only concerned with the method of locomotion. — rek, Jul 09 '21 at 15:37
you need to make the tail longer, snakes can only keep about 1/3rd of their mass off the ground. — John, Jul 09 '21 at 18:29
@John Black Mambas can lift 50% of their length vertically: https://youtu.be/HHt0ZiaSXo4?t=114 — rek, Jul 09 '21 at 19:20
@rek But it can barely move while doing so, it is like a human standing on tiptoe. — John, Jul 09 '21 at 19:41
"Most of the weight is centered in its hips and of course tail...". Which is it? The point of balance is a critical detail for answering your question. — jwdonahue, Jul 10 '21 at 20:33
My apologies. The tail is the heaviest part of the creature, hips are merely the second heaviest. — FelisMiscellaneous, Jul 10 '21 at 20:39
That picture. What is that picture like? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3MtO-3mCjM — puppetsock, Jul 13 '21 at 19:30

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 09 '21 at 16:01

Kangaroos can stand on their tails when fighting, so maybe something similar to your creature could be viable. Slithering on its tail could be interesting but it would be redundant due to the creatures legs. If the tail were smaller it could be used to stand on when asserting dominance, or if your creature is sentient it could be integrated into its society as a tool, like a ladder or another appendage. It could walk normally sometimes with its tail behind it and other times jump up on its tail to challenge others or preform tasks. It would theoretically be possible for it to hold itself upright if the human–like part was a bit smaller and it would not try to hold itself up really high.

This doesn't seem to answer the question. – rek Jul 09 '21 at 16:01 — rek, Jul 09 '21 at 16:01

score -3 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 10 '21 at 16:49

Yes

By strange coincidence, this fact is already well-established. Here is some live-action video demonstrating that a creature almost identical to yours can indeed use its tail to move on land¹:

https://youtu.be/otJ2rXMuLno?t=135

Note that this creature is free to use both its arms and one leg for non-locomotive purposes while simultaneously maintaining forward motion. I believe it is not known whether the creature could move faster if it used all its limbs.

Furthermore, it seems likely that it can walk upright if it can do high-kicks.

^{¹ Well, "on countertop."}

Could a creature use its tail to move on land?

2 Answers2

Yes