Cat: The Creature with the Moving Tail

Now that's a tail!
Photo by Roswitha Budde,

Cattery vom Hohen Timp

[CC-BY-SA-3.0],

via Wikimedia Commons.

The ancient Greeks knew how to name an animal. Their word for “cat” was ailouros, which means “moving tail.” How apt. Because we cats are constantly moving our tails. We wave them in anger, we flick them in excitement, we hold them straight up in greeting, we sweep them slowly across the floor in contentment. Some of us even move our tails in our sleep.

All of which raises a perplexing philosophical question: Is a cat without a tail still a cat?

Discuss.